Sustainability Without Prestige? The Rise of UI GreenMetric and the Persistent Decoupling from Global University Rankings (2010–2025)

Universities are fundamental to sustainability transitions, yet academic prestige is still primarily shaped by general university rankings. This study assesses whether sustainability leadership is becoming associated with academic prestige by analysing the longitudinal data from the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings across the editions covered in this study and examining its overlap with the leading positions in the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. To identify convergence patterns in the field of sustainability, the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings and the QS Sustainability Rankings were also considered for the years that were available for comparison. An institution–year panel was constructed to examine participation dynamics, elite composition and stability, Global North–Global South asymmetries, and cross-ranking overlap using descriptive indicators complemented by inferential tests of participation growth, elite access, and stability. Participation expanded markedly, driven largely by institutions in the Global South, and the sustainability elite became increasingly stable over time. However, the conditional access to leading positions remained more favourable to the institutions in the Global North, and the overlap with general prestige rankings remained rare. Overall, sustainability appears increasingly institutionalised within the GreenMetric regime while remaining weakly coupled to mainstream prestige signals, suggesting limited incentive alignment in higher education.