The QS Sustainability Rankings provides students with a unique lens on which institutions are demonstrating a commitment to a more sustainable existence. More than just the commitment, it looks for outwards evidence of this - from the impact that alumni are making in science and technology to solve climate issues, to the impact of research being done across the UN's 17 sustainable development goals.  It evaluates the social and environmental impact of universities as a center's of education and research, as well as a major employers with the operational sustainability challenges of any large and complex organization.

The 2nd edition of this ranking has three categories: Environmental Impact, Social Impact and Governance.  With each category, there are a series of performance lenses, themselves composed of an aggregated set of individual metrics. 

SOCIAL IMPACT (45%), including:

Equality:

• Research Impact on SDG's for Equality (4%)
• Student Gender Ratio (1%)
• Faculty Gender Ratio (1%)
• Women in Leadership Ratio (1%) 
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy (1%)
• Academic Equality (Staff View) (2%)
• Disability Support (1%)
• Equality National Statistics (1%)

Knowledge Exchange:

• Progress/Dissemination (6%)
• Outreach and Community Engagement (1%)
• Staff perceptron (2%)
• Policy Citations (Social) (1%)

Impact of Education:

• Research Impact on SDGs for Education (3%)
• Academic Reputation for Impact of Education (1%)
• Alumni Impact for Education (1%)
• Academic Freedom Index (1%)
• Impact of Education National Statistics (1%)

Employability and Opportunities: 

• Employer Reputation (2%)
• Research Impact on SDGs for Employment and Opportunities (4%)
• Job Preparedness (Graduates View) (1%)
• Employment and Opportunities National Statistics (1%)
• Partnerships with Industry (2%)
• Skills Satisfaction (1%)

Health and Wellbeing:

• Research Impact of SDGs for Health and Wellbeing (3%)
• Health Provision on Campus (1%)
• Health and Wellbeing National Statistics (1%)

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT (45%), including:

Environmental Sustainability:

• Alumni Impact for Innovation (5%)
• Member of an officially recognised sustainable group (1%)
• Climate change commitment (staff perception) (2%)
• Publicly available strategy or policy on sustainable procurement and investment (1%)
• Student Society focused on Environmental Sustainability (1%)
• Net Zero Commitment (1%)
• Emissions Efficiency (1%)
• Renewables Generated Onsite (1%)
• Progress Towards Target (1%)
• Policy on Climate Strategy (1%)

Environmental Education:

• Academic Reputation in Earth & Environment (10%)
• Alumni Impact for Environmental Sustainability - Public and Third Sector (4%)
• Climate Science and/or Sustainability Courses (3%)

Environmental Research:

• Research Impact on SDGs for Sustainable Research (9%)
• Sustainable Research National Statistics (1%)
• Research Center with an Environmental Sustainability Focus (2%)
• Policy Citations (Environmental) (1%)

GOVERNANCE (10%), including:

• Ethics Culture (1%)
• Open-Access Publishing (1%)
• Dedicated staff / team for Sustainable Development (1%)
• Transparent financial reporting (1%)
• Student's Union (1%)
• Student Representation in Governance (1%)
• Published governance minutes (1%)
• National Signatory to UN charter against torture (1%)
• Staff perception (1%)
• Policy Citations (Governance) (1%)