Maynooth University receives the second “An Taisce Green Campus Flag” for its sustainability achievements

Maynooth Campus has been awarded the prestigious “An Taisce Green Campus Flag” for the second time, recognising its progress in areas such as carbon emission reduction and advances in sustainability.

An Taisce, meaning “The Store House” or “Treasury”, is The National Trust For Ireland, and is Ireland’s oldest environmental charity. It was founded over 60 years ago to protect the environment and heritage of Ireland for the benefit of the people and future generations and for the common good. The An Taisce Green Campus Programme has been in operation in Ireland since 2007. At present 40 Campuses are formally registered on the Programme, with nineteen awarded the Green Flag.

A flag-raising ceremony was held last Monday, 4^th December, to mark the achievement and was attended by staff, students, Maynooth Student Union representatives, An Taisce, and a local community group. The ceremony was opened by Maynooth University President, Professor Eeva Leinonen, who thanked the Maynooth Green Campus committee for their efforts in leading the application.

“Maynooth University has always been at the forefront of the sustainability agenda. Our dedication to advancing this important cause is embodied by the Maynooth Green Campus initiative, a voluntary committee that brings together staff and students from Maynooth University and St Patrick’s Pontifical University, local community members and the Catholic world development agency, Trócaire, which is based on our campus”, Professor Leinonen said.

Maynooth University joined the Arqus Alliance on January 2023. Its leadership in the field of climate change and sustainability was identified by the Alliance as a priority research area. Its integration highly contributes to the objective of making Arqus an internationally recognised model concerning environmental sustainability in its teaching, research and societal engagement initiatives.