Another win for sustainability at AUT
AUT has won the Student Engagement award at the 2026 Green Gown Awards Australasia to top off another hugely impactful year of sustainability initiatives for students and staff.
The Awards are held every year to recognise and celebrate the growing scale, sophistication and impact of sustainability leadership across tertiary education.
The judges recognised AUT as the Small Institution Winner for modelling a genuine staff-student partnership that enables students to progress from participation to leadership.
They commended the AUT Sustainability Team, led by Lucy McKenzie, for creating an empowering structure in which students are supported, valued and given genuine opportunities to lead sustainability action.
Since 2024, McKenzie and in particular, Amelia Adams, have given students the opportunity to develop and deliver their own projects at AUT through the Green Impact Programme, which Amelia leads at AUT.
This resulted in the following student-led initiatives:
- Generation 2100: A Student-Led Climate Advocacy Forum with a core team of 27 Manaaki Scholars, where about 70 AUT students attended;
- The Manaaki Sustainability community garden project involving 25 plus Manaaki Scholars who grow, maintain, harvest and cook herbs and vegetables at the South Campus Māra Kai.
Other initiatives were staff led and involved participation from students, with invaluable support from staff across the University:
- 100 plus students planted 1,000 native plants across AUT's North and South Campuses, making connections and learning more about biodiversity.
- Events such as a student pop-up shop with second-hand kitchenware, clothing and bedding left behind by students diverted nearly half a tonne of goods from landfill and helped approximately 200 students.
- 600 staff and (mainly) students were engaged with Your Campus Commute across all three campuses – learning about sustainable travel options to AUT.
- Green Impact participation between 2024 and 2025 saw 81 students participate and 557 sustainability actions completed by students; and 16 students trained as Green Impact Auditors developing structured leadership and accountability skills.
AUT student Rupert Barrett says he was grateful for the opportunity to participate.
“Events such as the planting days across the North and South campuses as well as the Green Impact initiative give you a chance to contribute to something bigger than yourself, which I find really rewarding. They're also a great way to meet like-minded people!”
The judges were particularly impressed with the breadth of practical initiatives, the integration with Green Impact, cross-university collaboration and focus on international students demonstrating meaningful environmental and social benefits, while providing students with valuable real-world skills and formal recognition.
The judges also saw strong potential for this model to be replicated more widely and potentially integrated into curriculum, particularly given its ability to bridge the gap between sustainability theory and practical experience.
Thank you to everyone who participated, led projects, and contributed to sustainability at AUT.