According to the QS Rankings, which were released on Tuesday, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, has jumped 255 spots to become the most sustainable university in India and 171 globally.
Nine of the top ten Indian universities improved their rankings this year, and 21 new universities made their debut in the 2025 QS Sustainability Rankings, which included 78 universities overall.
Among the top 100 universities in the world for environmental impact are IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur. One of the top 50 universities in the world for environmental education is the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. “Of the 78 Indian universities listed in the 2025 QS Sustainability Rankings, eight have held their rankings and 34 have improved from the previous year’s ranking.
Ben Sowter, vice president of London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), stated, “This is an outstanding achievement for the Indian higher education ecosystem and illustrates that Indian universities are forging ahead with their sustainability initiatives.”
“Indian universities can aim to raise their indicator scores in the Social Impact category in the Health and Wellbeing, Impact of Education, and Equality lenses, as none of the nation’s institutions rank in the top 350. In the Knowledge Exchange and Employability and Outcomes lenses, Indian universities performed higher, Sowter continued. More than 1,740 universities from 107 nations and territories are featured in the 2025 rankings, which is a considerable increase over the 1,397 institutions from 95 places in the previous edition.
This year, the University of Toronto is placed first, followed by ETH Zurich in second place, Lund University in Sweden, and the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) in third and fourth place, respectively. This highlights the importance for sustainability to remain at the forefront of institutional agendas, she said.
“This year’s QS Sustainability Rankings show the increasing global efforts of higher education institutions to address sustainability challenges, with 461 institutions improving their positions, 350 new entrants, and five universities making their first appearance in the top 20.” There is still more work to be done, she continued, even though several universities performed well in our rankings.
The ‘World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025’ approach used by QS is predicated on university performance in three evaluation categories: Governance, Social Impact, and Environmental Impact.
-Raja Aditya
