Fairtrade and Ethical Procurement - Durham University 

Fairtrade 

The University has been accredited by the Fairtrade Foundation since 2007. In 2019 we began working towards becoming a Fairtrade University with the Fairtrade Universities and Colleges Award. In 2024 we received the Fairtrade University Award 'working towards' from the NUS and Fairtrade Foundation and have renewed this in 2025.  

We are also working with the Carbon Trust, to understand the impacts of our supply chain and Scope 3 carbon emissions. Our Fairtrade Steering Group has widened its remit to account for this and to integrate and embed Fairtrade work within wider ethical procurement work in our  Sustainable Procurement Group. Our updated Sustainable Procurement Policy reflects the University's commitment to the Fairtrade Award and to reducing supply chain emissions. 

Richard Adams, a Fairtrade pioneer and founder of Traidcraft, was a student at St John's College in the 1960s and is now a Fellow of the College. He has continued to support the wider university’s work in this field. 

The University continues to deliver a range of Fairtrade activities and initiatives every year – in 2024/25 we have set up a Greenspace Fairtrade reading list which is available from our Greenspace Linktree to texts which are all available for loan for university members from the Library - Durham University.  

We have also undertaken a survey in spring 2025 amongst staff and students to understand how they would like to engage and drive Fairtrade activity forward and are using this to inform our 2025/26 activities.  

We continue to host events on Fairtrade, including most recently at our Greenspace festival in June 2025, where Emertius Reader at the Durham University Business School, John Hirst delivered a session entitled ‘Fairness in Trade: Why It Still Matters’ to staff, students and members of the wider public.