The 2025 ANU Green Awards have officially wrapped, shining a light on the staff and students who are making sustainability part of everyday life at ANU. This year’s entries reinforced a clear message: small actions stack up fast when a whole community gets behind them.
Designed to recognise hands-on climate action, the Awards celebrated staff and students who turned good intentions into real change. From low-waste habits to smarter commuting choices, participants showed that climate action on campus is a priority.
Winner: Claire Pepper
As a remote student, Claire doesn’t get to be on campus often, but when she did recently, she turned her visit into a sustainability opportunity. Arriving with her own cutlery bag and adapting challenges to fit her circumstances, she showed creativity, thoughtfulness and practical leadership to earn a whopping 230 points.
Claire’s actions showed how powerful low-effort, thoughtful habits can be. She grew her own food including building a veggie box of seasonal produce, swapped single-use plastics for glass jars she already had and championed sustainable period products as a long-term option. On campus, she came prepared with her handmade cutlery bag and reusable cup, proving a little planning goes a long way. She also brought her values into her vintage clothing business by using recycled paper and upcycling old bags into something new and meaningful. Each action was small, practical and personal — but together, they added up to genuine impact.
Claire’s contribution reflects the spirit of the Awards: visible leadership that makes sustainable choices feel doable and fun.
What’s next?
Looking for ways to build more sustainable habits into your day? ANU is making it easier with a new bus in early 2026 connecting the campus with major public transport hubs in the city. Fewer cars, smoother commutes and reduced individual travel costs mean it is kinder to the planet and noticeably friendlier on your wallet. Keep an eye out in On Campus for updates or join ANU Green Network.
The ANU Green Awards will continue to evolve, grow and spotlight the people quietly doing the big work of change. Together, these everyday actions are shaping a campus that is more resilient, more connected and more future-ready – one smart, planet-friendly decision at a time.
ANU is working to reduce our environmental impact across all our emission sources including energy, travel, waste and more. Looking for other ways to help support this mission? Join the One Small Step app or the ANU Green Network. The app speaks directly to the ANU community with easy and fun ways to act more sustainably, and the Network is an online resource for ANU staff and students to access and share sustainability activities and advice at the University.