The Sustainable Endowments Institute (SEI) just released our new College Sustainability Report Card 2008.
The new Report Card found more than two out of three schools are showing improvement from the last edition. Thanks in large part to the Campus Climate Challenge and other student driven initiatives, a “green groundswell” is happening on campuses, with nearly 45 percent of colleges committing to fight climate change through cutting carbon emissions.
High-performance green building standards guide new construction at 59 percent of schools, while 42 percent are using hybrid or electric vehicles in transportation fleets. Notably, 37 percent of schools purchase renewable energy and 30 percent produce their own wind or solar energy. A substantial 70 percent buy food from local farms and 64 percent serve fair trade coffee.
More fun facts include:
-More than one in three schools have full-time staff dedicated to sustainability.
- Two in three schools have a campus advisory committee on sustainability.
- Three in five schools have green building projects.
- Biodiesel is made and/or used at 31 percent of schools.
- Reduced-fare passes for public transit are offered at 38 percent of schools.
- Bicycle-sharing programs have been instituted at 23 percent of schools.
- Car-sharing programs are available at 17 percent of schools.
For more facts and detailed profiles of each of the 200 schools, check out full College Sustainability Report Card at www.endowmentinstitute.org.
Much work still remains as the average overall grade for the 200 schools was a “C.” The good news is….that most schools are now at least taking some steps towards becoming more sustainable on campus. When it comes to the sustainability of endowments, however, performance is clearly lagging.
The categories with the lowest overall grades were Shareholder Engagement with 66 percent “Fs” and Endowment Transparency with 58 percent “Fs.” In contrast, failing grades averaged only 10 percent across the five campus categories of Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, and Transportation.
To read the executive summary or download the full report, see: www.endowmentinstitute.org.
Mark,
great report. I hope it’s highly motivating for the Unies to keep the pedal to the metal as far as improving their grades year to year
pedal to the metal? i don’t mean to nitpick, but it strikes me how much our language is subtly inscribed with stories about our lives. pedal to the metal is about being in a machine hurdling down a highway at tremendous speeds, completely disconnected from others also on the highway and more importantly from the woods which are now moved to the periphery. the earth calls us to slow down, to walk lightly. tiny revolutions are these little acts of re-visioning phrases. how else could we say “pedal to the metal”? do we even want to? let us keep our feet tenderly pressed to the Earth?
Julian Dautremont-Smith, from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) wrote a review of the 2008 College Sustainability Report Card. Now that you’ve read the College Sustainability Report Card for yourself, join the discussion about it on the AASHE Campus Sustainability Perspectives Blog.
Did the report accurately reflect your school’s environmental performance? How will you use the report’s findings on your campus? Is there anything that should be added to the report next year?