The University of Toronto is often considered to be the most prestiguous post-secondary institution in the country and one of the best in the world, but according to a new ranking, there's another school in Ontario that has it beat — at least in one specific aspect.

Times Higher Education (THE), the well-respected source for such rankings and other university news, has just released a new report that measures how well institutions around the globe are working toward achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for "peace and prosperity for people and the planet."

While U of T can often be found near the top of the list in most academic rankings, this time, it performed quite poorly, coming in 99th out of 1,591 universities in 112 regions — much worse than in other recent evaluations.

But, one nearby school was recognized as first in North America and third in the world: Queen's University in Kingston, which, as a press release notes, makes it the only institution in Canada to land three top-10 placements.

#QueensU ranks 3rd in the world 🌎 and 1st in North America 🍁 in the 2023 @timeshighered Impact Rankings for our university's commitment to advance the #UN Sustainable Development Goals #SDGs locally and globally!#QueensuImpact | #THEglobalimpact | ➡️ https://t.co/iSAB8nfq7G pic.twitter.com/QWJZ9wXQ9d

— Queen's University (@queensu) June 1, 2023

A representative from the school told THE that Queen's has long incorporated the UN's goals into "how the institution defines itself and understands its mission as a global institution."

"Our performance in this year's rankings confirms that Queen's is realizing its aspirations to be a university that effects real, positive change at the local, national, and global level... Our community is working together to improve our world and to help shape a better future for all of us and the planet," they said.

THE measured each school in the areas of research, stewardship, outreach and teaching to determine how well they are enacting change to reach the goals, which include eradicating poverty and hunger, ensuring good healthcare and education for all, achieving gender parity, and more.

We’ve just released our Impact Rankings 2023, which score universities on their progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.@westernsydneyu tops the overall table for a second consecutive year#THEglobalimpact

Browse the full results:https://t.co/hmufpFqPD9 pic.twitter.com/orMd9TQ6D6

— World University Rankings (@THEworldunirank) June 1, 2023

In the Times' overall higher education rankings for 2023, Queen's was placed quite far down the list at 251-300. U of T, meanwhile, landed in the 18th spot.

Interestingly, a ranking of how well schools work to minimize their environmental and social impact conducted by QS World University Rankings last fall, rated U of T second out of 700 institutions.