QS Rankings: IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur among world's top 100 universities for environmental impact | Check full list

Several Indian institutions have ranked highly in the 2025 QS Sustainability rankings released on Tuesday. The Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi and its Kanpur counterpart both ranked among the world's top 100 for environmental impact. Meanwhile the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru was ranked among world's top 50 for environment education.

"Of the 78 Indian universities that feature in the 2025 QS Sustainability rankings…34 have improved on last year’s placing and eight have maintained their positions. This is an excellent achievement for the Indian higher education ecosystem and shows that Indian universities are forging ahead with their sustainability initiatives," said Ben Sowter — the Vice President of London-based QS.

The 2025 rankings showcase over 1,740 universities from 107 countries and territories, reflecting significant growth from the previous edition, which included 1,397 institutions across 95 locations. The sustainability rankings are based on university performance across three assessment categories — environmental impact, social impact and governance.

Indian Universities in QS Sustainability Rankings for 2025:

• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) 
• Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP)
• Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB)
• Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK)
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM)
• University of Delhi
• Indian Institute of Science
• Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) 
• Manipal Academy of Higher Education – Manipal University (MAHE)
• Anna University

The University of Toronto is the top ranked university this year, ahead of ETH Zurich which got second place, and Lund University in Sweden and University of California, Berkeley (UCB) in joint third.

"Within the Social Impact category, Indian universities can look to improve their indicator scores in the Health and Wellbeing, Impact of Education and Equality lenses, where no institutions from the country feature in the top 350. Universities from India scored better in the Knowledge Exchange and Employability and Outcomes lenses," Sowter added.

(With inputs from agencies)