UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State tied for No. 2 among 237 ranked universities in the United States in the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability for 2025, released Dec. 10. Internationally, the University rose 18 places in this year’s rankings to tie for No. 19 out of 1,743 participating institutions worldwide.

Penn State also ranked at No. 1 among Big Ten institutions and No. 2 among all U.S. public universities.

The 2025 rankings provide a framework to show how universities are taking action to tackle the world’s greatest environmental, social and governance challenges, according to international rankings organization Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).

Penn State’s commitment to sustainability is reflected across University operations, its research enterprise, and through course-based and experiential learning opportunities for students. Examples of the University’s sustainability efforts can be found in Penn State Sustainability’s flagship programming, which includes the Sustainable Communities Collaborative, Local Climate Action Program, Sustainable Labs Program, and the annual student-led Global Sustainable Action Conference, co-hosted with Penn State Global.

“We’re proud to recognize Penn State’s strong and consistent presence in the QS World University Rankings,” said Lara Fowler, chief sustainability officer at Penn State. “Our success in advancing sustainability reflects the collective passion, innovation and dedication of our University community. This meaningful work — championed by our students, faculty, staff, administrators and community partners — creates ripples of positive change across our campuses and extends to the state and global communities where we have a vital presence.”

Penn State maintained its high performance even as the number of participating institutions increased by 349 this year. Read more about QS’ methodology for the 2025 Sustainability rankings.

The global ranking combines three categories to arrive at one overall international “Sustainability” assessment. These categories are: “Environmental Impact,” where the University ranked No. 23 globally; “Social Impact,” where Penn State tied for No. 23 globally; and “Governance,” where Penn State tied for No. 73 in the world.

“This significant advancement in Penn State’s QS Sustainability ranking is a reflection of our institutional commitment to addressing local to global sustainability challenges as part of our land-grant mission,” said Sabine Klahr, interim vice provost for Penn State Global. “This recognition demonstrates that the university’s sustainability efforts and our faculty and students engaged in sustainability research and education are truly doing cutting-edge work.”

In addition, each of the categories — Environmental Impact (which comprises 45% of the overall ranking), Social Impact (45%), and Governance (10%) — is made up of a series of performance lenses under which universities are ranked:

• Environmental Impact is focused on environmental education, research and sustainability.
• Social Impact is focused on employability and outcomes, equality, health and well-being, impact of education and knowledge exchange.
• Governance assesses “good governance,” which, according to QS’s methodology, “recognizes universities who have good governance embedded throughout their policies, procedures and strategy.”

Penn State’s highest rankings globally among these performance lenses were “Knowledge Exchange” (tied for No. 35), “Environmental Education” (tied for No. 36), “Environmental Research” (tied for No. 39), and “Employability and Outcomes” (tied for No. 43). The University also performed in the top 100 globally in “Environmental Sustainability” (No. 62) and “Equality” (tied for No. 73).

"Penn State's strong position in the QS sustainability rankings is a reflection of our deep commitment to addressing the most urgent environmental, social and governance challenges of today," said Andrew Read, Penn State’s senior vice president for Research. "Sustainability is at the heart of who we are — it’s a value we live and promote every day. This recognition highlights the meaningful work happening across our Commonwealth Campuses, throughout Pennsylvania and on a global stage, as we strive to create lasting impact for communities near and far."

According to QS, the “World University Ranking: Sustainability” system is based on a framework of environmental and social impacts, as well as good institutional governance practices through research, teaching and community engagement. The organization engages more than 40 world-leading experts across 19 countries on the QS Rankings Advisory Board, and is partnered with Elsevier, Yale University, and the Academic Freedom Index regarding data analyses.

Earlier this year, Penn State ranked No. 4 in the U.S. and No. 51 globally in the 2024 Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings, which assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (read more about Penn State's progress on the SDGs). To learn more about Penn State’s rankings, visit the Facts and Rankings page on psu.edu.

For more information about Penn State’s sustainability initiatives, read the newly released “State of Sustainability” Highlight Report, visit sustainability.psu.edu, contact sustainability@psu.edu, or follow @sustainpsu on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. Penn State Sustainability events can be found on the events calendar or subscribe to Mainstream e-news.