Earth Day 2025
This year is the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, a global annual event on April 22nd which focusses on supporting environmental protection. This year’s theme, ‘Our Power, Our Planet’ focusses on renewable and clean energy. Earth Day first began in 1970, and it gives a chance for people to focus on the challenges our planet faces whilst also giving an opportunity to appreciate everything our planet has to offer. Today Earth Day comprises of a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org and involves over 1 billion people across 192 countries getting involved!
Our Power, Our Planet 
This year’s focus is renewable energy, using it to create clean, inexpensive, and unlimited energy for the planet, to have a renewable future, and end our reliance on fossil fuels. The goal this year is to globally triple renewable energy generation by 2030, and opt for clean energy. This is because it has many health and economic benefits, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, in comparison to fossil fuel usage and the damage it causes to both human health and the environment.
Did you know that many countries across the world are already either committing to or prioritising renewable energy usage? Iceland obtains 99.99% of its countries energy from renewable sources, and a third of all homes in Australia use solar panels. Additionally, Denmark uses wind turbines to generate over 50% of its electricity, and India has set goals to achieve 50% total energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2030!
What are the University of Reading doing?
At the University of Reading, we are committed to becoming net zero carbon by 2030 and have already made the largest reduction of any research-intensive university. We have reduced our carbon emissions by more than 60% since 2009, 62% of our waste is reused, recycled or composted, and 100% of our electricity has come from renewable resources since 2009.
So much so that we are the first EnCO aspiring university, with the Vice-Chancellor proudly signing the EnCO pledge, reaffirming the institution’s dedication to reducing energy consumption and promoting energy efficiency across all areas of campus life. This accomplishment is a testament to the university’s ongoing efforts to enhance energy efficiency across its campus and create a more sustainable learning environment. Energy efficiency is crucial not only for lowering operational costs but also for reducing the environmental impact of energy consumption. With the effects of climate change becoming more apparent, we are taking bold steps to contribute to global efforts in combating this crisis.
The university has a number of Carbon Management Projects which prioritise renewable energy, one of the biggest being the installation of 3805 solar panels across the entire university. On Whiteknights Campus alone, a total of 998 kWp is generated through solar energy. This is predicted to generate 395,482 kWh electricity each year, saving £134,000 (at 2022/23 prices) and 91 tCO2 annually, the equivalent of removing the electricity consumption of circa 136 houses from the grid.
Another way renewable energy is prioritised at the University of Reading is through heat decarbonisation, and this has involved the biggest single investment in decarbonisation at the university to date, costing £3.2 million. It involves replacing 27-year old gas boilers with low carbon air source heat pumps in the SportsPark, targeting annual savings of 489,735 kWh. Converting the SportsPark to two electric heat pumps means that the building will become one of the lowest carbon buildings on campus, with an estimated 110 tonnes of carbon being saved per year.
How can you get involved?
There are a number of ways you can get involved, one of the easiest ways is signing the Renewable Energy Petition. You can also use the Earth Day 2025 Network Global Event Map to discover events happening near you, and explore earthday.org for ways you can take action!
Although Earth Day has become a global annual event which takes place one day a year, action needs to be taken to save the environment and fight climate change everyday, all year round.
