LONDON, Oct. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- QS Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) released today the inaugural QS World University Rankings: Sustainability,
a new framework to evaluate how universities are taking action to tackle the world's most pressing environmental and social issues.  
Jessica Turner, CEO at QS, said: "QS aims to provide prospective students with independent insights into university records in improving sustainability and support universities in monitoring their progress as they strive to implement their ESG^[1] strategies and find solutions to unprecedented global challenges."

The overall rank of the 700 universities featured is determined by the sum of their scores in two categories:

• Environmental Impact (aggregating three indicators: Sustainable Institutions, Sustainable Education and Sustainable Research)
• Social Impact (aggregating five indicators: Equality, Knowledge Exchange, Impact of Education, Employability and Opportunities, and Quality of Life).

UC Berkely is the global leader, followed by the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. The University of Edinburgh (4^th) is the top British institution while The University of New South Wales and The University of Sydney—share fifth place. The University of Tokyo (7^th) is Asia's leader. UPenn, Yale and The University of Auckland complete the top-10.

The US dominates the rankings with 135 universities, followed by the UK (67), Germany (39), Mainland China (37),  Australia (33) and Italy (31).

• Sweden boasts Continental Europe's two highest-ranked universities, with Uppsala University and Lund university placing 11^th and 12^th globally. Denmark is home to the third highest, Aarhus University (15^th).
• For Sustainable Research, four Scandinavian universities are among the world's top-5 while the National University of Singapore is the leader.
• Universidade de São Paulo (34^th) is Latin America's leader.
• The University of Cape Town (132^nd) is Africa's leader.
• China's top performer is Peking University (118^th) while India's is IIT Bombay (281-300).

^[1] Environmental, Social, Governance