Coordination & Planning
Introduction
Staff and other resources help an institution organize, implement, and publicize sustainability initiatives. These resources provide the infrastructure that fosters sustainability within an institution. Sustainability planning affords an institution the opportunity to clarify its vision of a sustainable future, establish priorities and help guide budgeting and decision making.
Featured Resources
Latest News from AASHE Bulletin
New Resources
UVA Sustainability Annual Report
- University of Virginia (VA)
This report covers 2023-2024.
- Posted Sept. 18, 2024
- Publications
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Webinar: Using Organizational Behavior Change Principles to Amplify Sustainability in Higher Ed
- Macalester College (MN)
- University of St. Thomas (MN)
- AASHE (MA)
Institutions of Higher Education (HEIs) are critical for a sustainability transformation given their role developing innovations and preparing future citizens and leaders. Yet, efforts to mobilize sustainable change in HEIs …
- Posted Aug. 29, 2024
- Videos & Webinars
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Sustainability Engagement Tracking for STARS 3.0
- Santa Clara University (CA)
- AASHE (MA)
In anticipation of changes to Campus Engagement credits in STARS 3.0, Santa Clara University’s Center for Sustainability pivoted our methods of tracking participation in sustainability activities from “tallying attendance” to …
- Posted Aug. 22, 2024
- Videos & Webinars
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Texas A&M Athletics Sustainability Master Plan Core Team
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Members of the Athletics Sustainability Master Plan gather at the Annual Sustainability Breakfast. L-R (Rebekah Parkhill, Kelly Wellman, David Taylor, Lauren Lichterman, Scot Obergefell)
- Posted Aug. 19, 2024
- Photographs
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Creating A Stronger, Sustainable Campus
- California State University, Fullerton (CA)
President Gordon Signs Talloires Declaration, Presidents Climate Commitment
By Pamela McLaren
President Milton A. Gordon has joined university presidents around the world in signing the Talloires Declaration, a statement of …
- Posted July 31, 2024
- Photographs
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AI-based controller
- Cornell University (NY)
Part of Cornell’s Radical Collaboration on Solutions for Sustainability includes is Guided by faculty task forces, Cornell is investing in ten strategic discipline areas one of which is artificial intelligence. …
- Posted July 31, 2024
- Photographs
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Nova Scotia Community College: Photos for SCI 2024
- Nova Scotia Community College (NS)
The Nova Scotia Community College has been selected to be featured in the 2024 SCI. Photos have been requested to be submitted showcasing Associate institution's overall, Waste impact area, and …
- Posted July 29, 2024
- Photographs
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Sustainability Council at OSU
- Oregon State University (OR)
Images featuring Sustainability Council members at OSU working together to plan student facing opportunities.
- Posted July 29, 2024
- Photographs
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Top Performer in the 2024 Sustainable Campus Index (SCI)
- University of Toronto Mississauga (ON)
SCI 2024
- Posted July 25, 2024
- Photographs
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SCI Top Performer - University of Oregon Heating Transition Taskforce
- University of Oregon (OR)
Thermal Systems Transition Study Task Force The UO Thermal Systems Task Force was responsible for reviewing the UO’s thermal heating infrastructure and recommending how best to reduce the system’s greenhouse …
- Posted July 24, 2024
- Photographs
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The McGill Community Consults on the Next Climate & Sustainability Strategy
- McGill University (QC)
In Feb. 2024, the McGill Office of Sustainability brought together various faculty, staff, and students from the McGill community to discuss their vision for the the Climate & Sustainability Strategy …
- Posted July 23, 2024
- Photographs
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McGill Celebrates its STARS Platinum Rating
- McGill University (QC)
The McCall MacBain Arts building lit in green in order to celebrate McGill University's achievement of a Platinum STARS rating in March 2024. Thanks to the efforts of the McGill …
- Posted July 23, 2024
- Photographs
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McGill University Biodiversity Festival 2023
- McGill University (QC)
McGill’s first Biodiversity Plan was launched in Sept. 2023, with a celebrations held on the downtown and Macdonald campuses, as well as the Gault Nature Reserve. The Biodiversity Festival featured …
- Posted July 23, 2024
- Photographs
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Bigelow Boulevard Bioswales at University of Pittsburgh
- University of Pittsburgh (PA)
Completed in 2020, the University of Pittsburgh’s transformation of Bigelow Boulevard (which runs through the heart of campus) features a series of rain gardens known as the Bigelow Bioswales. These …
- Posted July 22, 2024
- Photographs
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American University students choose stickers to personalize water bottles during orientation.
- American University (DC)
Incoming students at American University select stickers to personalize the AU-branded reusable water bottles they received during orientation. The Office of Sustainability worked with the Office of New Student & …
- Posted July 15, 2024
- Photographs
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ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY AY 2022–2023
- City University of New York, Brooklyn College (NY)
Brooklyn College is committed to building a culture of sustainability across campus. We aim to reduce our environmental impact through engagement, education, and research initiatives. Our efforts continue guided by …
- Posted June 17, 2024
- Publications
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Partnering for Progress 2023 Sustainability Report
- University of Melbourne (Victoria)
Partnering for Progress is the second report against the ambitious targets outlined in the Sustainability Plan 2030 (SP2030). This plan underpins the aspirations outlined in Advancing Melbourne, guiding sustainable delivery …
- Posted June 17, 2024
- Publications
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Webinar: Implementing Sustainability Literacy and Culture Assessments for AASHE STARS
- George Mason University (VA)
- AASHE (MA)
If you’re seeking ways to pursue or enhance your STARS AC-6 and EN-6 assessments related to sustainability literacy and culture, we invite you to attend an upcoming presentation and discussion …
- Posted May 23, 2024
- Videos & Webinars
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AASHE Member Discount: 100% Off Navigator BASIC, An All-In-One Digital Platform
- Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (MA)
SPLC is announcing today the public availability of the SPLC Navigator - an all-in-one digital platform providing sustainable procurement measurement, benchmarking, performance tracking, targeted actions and supporting resources to drive …
- Posted May 10, 2024
- Tools
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Working Toward a Clean Energy Future: CSUF Presents Second Energy and Sustainability Summit
- California State University, Fullerton (CA)
As Orange County works toward its climate goals, Cal State Fullerton is committed to advancing clean energy for the future, providing students with hands-on research opportunities and partnering with local …
- Posted May 9, 2024
- Photographs
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Community Clean Up on Houbolt Road
- Joliet Junior College (IL)
Joliet Junior College had a clean up on the road outside of the school. We invited 15 different businesses along the road and had 5 sign up, including a visit …
- Posted May 6, 2024
- Photographs
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Romeoville Repair Cafe at Joliet Junior College
- Joliet Junior College (IL)
Joliet Junior College is a registered international Repair Cafe! We had our first Repair Cafe of the year and our on April 13th, we had our very first one for …
- Posted May 6, 2024
- Photographs
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KAUST SDG Highlight Report 2023
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Makkah)
KAUST proudly presents its latest SDG Highlight Report, offering a snapshot of the institution's targeted efforts and successes over 2023 in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Posted May 6, 2024
- Publications
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Rice University Earth Month Kick-Off Festival 2024
- Rice University (TX)
Rice University's Office of Sustainability hosted an Earth Month Kick-Off Festival in the Rice Memorial Center. The event featured over 20 campus and community organizations and drew over 150 attendees. …
- Posted May 6, 2024
- Photographs
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USC Sustainability Town Hall
- University of Southern California (CA)
Students gather in the USC Sustainability Hub to hear from a panel of speakers provide updates on campus sustainability efforts.
- Posted April 30, 2024
- Photographs
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PCC Earth Week 2024
- Portland Community College (OR)
We celebrated Earth Week at Portland Community College (PCC) with over 30 events throughout the week! We hosted tours and planting parties in our on-campus Learning Gardens, upcycling workshops in …
- Posted April 30, 2024
- Photographs
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Beat the Hell Outta (BTHO) Climate Change
- Texas A&M University (TX)
Texas A&M University students learn from over 20 campus and community organizations at a Campus Earth Day event in Rudder Plaza to earn a BTHO Climate Change t-shirt.
- Posted April 23, 2024
- Photographs
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Sustainability: Learning and Teaching in the Business Education Context
- Mahidol University (Bangkok)
Business schools worldwide are integrating sustainability into their curricula, yet a gap persists in understanding students' perspectives on these courses' effectiveness in preparing for sustainability challenges. This study investigates undergraduate …
- Posted April 10, 2024
- Publications
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ACE Webinar: How your Institution can Save Money and Fight Climate Change
- Second Nature (MA)
- American Council on Education (DC)
Colleges and universities can now tap into significant cost savings and boost sustainability efforts thanks to new clean energy tax credits included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
ACE hosted …
- Posted April 3, 2024
- Videos & Webinars
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Penn Sustainability FY23 Annual Report
- University of Pennsylvania (PA)
The Penn Sustainability Office has released the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0 FY23 Annual Report, based on data and metrics for fiscal year 2023 gathered from across many academic …
- Posted April 3, 2024
- Publications
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‘SDGs at Work’ – Building SDG Awareness and Engagement Through Work-Integrated Learning
- AASHE (MA)
- University of Waterloo (ON)
Increasingly, higher education institutions (HEIs) are being measured on their contributions towards advancing the U.N. SDGs. Institutionally, there is growing focus on graduating global citizens who can advocate for and …
- Posted March 28, 2024
- Videos & Webinars
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The HBCU Climate Action Blueprint
- United Negro College Fund (GA)
Released at the 2024 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit, “The HBCU Climate Action Blueprint: Sustainable Campuses, Empowered Communities” explores the current activities and future aspirations of Historically Black Colleges and …
- Posted March 19, 2024
- Publications
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Certifying High-Performing and Sustainable Parking Structures on Campus: A Parksmart Workshop
- AASHE (MA)
- International Parking & Mobility Institute (IPMI) (VA)
Parksmart is the world’s only certification program that defines, measures, and recognizes high-performing, sustainable garages. Developed by industry experts, Parksmart offers a roadmap for new and existing parking facilities to …
- Posted March 13, 2024
- Videos & Webinars
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How To Accelerate Your Institution’s Scope 3 Emissions Reductions
- Catawba College (NC)
- AASHE (MA)
- GreenPlaces (NC)
With campus leaders facing mounting pressure to reduce carbon emissions, many institutions are struggling to measure and manage scope 3 emissions. Data collection is highly manual, and many institutions simply …
- Posted March 6, 2024
- Videos & Webinars
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The Rocky Path to MSU's Campus Sustainability Framework
- Montana State University (MT)
In 2021, Montana State University pivoted away from a static Sustainability Plan, instead adopting the MSU Sustainability Framework, which consists of three long term sustainability targets and a new high-level …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Paving the Way to a Living Plan: CSUN's Road Map to Sustainability 2033
- California State University, Northridge (CA)
CSUN introduced its 10-year sustainability plan in June 2023, following a year-long collaboration with consultants. What sets this plan apart is the implementation of innovative sustainability tracking software, which transforms …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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STARS Town Hall
- California State University, Chancellor's Office (CA)
- The New School (NY)
- AASHE (MA)
The STARS Town Hall, hosted by AASHE staff and STARS Steering Committee members, provides an opportunity to learn about the most significant changes planned for STARS 3.0 and ask questions …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Small but Mighty: Designing Micro Projects for Outsized Impact
- Davidson College (NC)
- East Carolina University (NC)
- University of Georgia (GA)
Small-scale projects can feel like a distraction. With limited resources and unlimited potential projects, focusing on big picture priorities like reducing emissions or improving waste diversion rates makes sense. However, …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Leveling Up Sustainability Funds for Strategic Goals and Bigger Impact
- University of Washington, Seattle (WA)
- McGill University (QC)
In today's rapidly changing world, sustainability initiatives have become paramount for higher education institutions. As universities embrace their responsibility to lead by example, the management of campus sustainability funds has …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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UBC Okanagan Climate Action Plan 2030 - The Impact of Collective Action
- University of British Columbia Okanagan (BC)
In December 2019, UBC declared a climate emergency, which included a commitment to accelerate the reduction of emissions at UBC. A key step is UBC Okanagan’s development of a Climate …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Finished the Climate Action Plan - Now What?
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
- University of Minnesota System Office (MN)
Climate action plans can be a big endeavor, but really they are only the first step in the process. Now what? Join colleagues to discuss how they advanced priorities (or …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Zero Waste Strategic Visioning & Planning
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)
- Post-Landfill Action Network (NH)
Zero Waste Strategic Visioning & Planning provides an opportunity for participants to explore the challenges and opportunities with facilitating a campus-wide strategic visioning and planning process. This will be a …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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COP28 Dubai Climate Conference - Delegation Organizers or Members
- University of Massachusetts Lowell (MA)
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (MN)
Meet and learn about the plans and interests of other faculty, academic staff or students who are organizing or participating in University or other delegations to the Climate Conference known …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Who Owns the Campus Forest? A Tree Campus Conversation
- Arbor Day Foundation (NE)
Trees play a critical role in creating healthier, safer, and more connected communities. They clean our air, filter our water, and even slow storm surge and flooding in our cities. …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Progress Not Perfection: How to Tell Your Story Along the Way
- Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
- Colorado State University (CO)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
Communicating about sustainability initiatives and climate action can be hard. Sharing your story about climate neutrality goals, engagement initiatives, and small victories throughout a project can be even more challenging. …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Shooting for the STARS: An Introduction From Liftoff to Landing
- Iowa State University (IA)
- AASHE (MA)
This session will provide an introduction to STARS and how it can be used to advance sustainability at your institution. We’ll provide “mission training” with an overview of the framework, …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Data Dashboards for Beginners: How & Why to Start
- American University (DC)
- University of Maryland, College Park (MD)
American University (AU) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) are coming together to present on lessons-learned while developing sustainability-data focused Tableau dashboards for the public. The session will …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Thriving as a Sustainable Leader: Creating a Personalized Resiliency Plan
- Lebanon Valley College (PA)
In this session, we will examine the leadership challenges and opportunities that are specific to the intersection of sustainability and social justice work, including how external stressors have become more …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Washington Oregon Cascadia Higher Education Sustainability Consortium (WOHESC) Networking Session
- Portland State University (OR)
This session will be for higher ed sustainability professionals, faculty, students and sustainability professionals from the Washington Oregon and Cascadia region to gather, report our successes, share our perspectives, problem …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium Meet-Up
- Tufts University (MA)
The Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium support sustainability officers in advancing education about and demonstration of sustainable systems on university campuses in the northeast United States and Canadian maritime region by …
- Posted Feb. 21, 2024
- Conference Presentations
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This tab provides access to data collected through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS). STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS enables meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.
All responses reference content from reports under the latest version of STARS, version 2.2. AASHE membership and log-in is required.
PA 1: Sustainability Coordination
- Description of the sustainability committee(s)
- Description of the sustainability office(s)
- Description of activities and accomplishments of the institution-wide coordinating body or officer during the previous three years
- First sustainability position (upload)
- First sustainability position (text)
- Second sustainability position (upload)
- Second sustainability position (text)
- Third sustainability position (upload)
- Third sustainability position (text)
- Website URL - Sustainability Coordination
PA 2: Sustainability Coordination
- Published measurable objectives - Academics
- Published measurable objectives - Engagement
- Published measurable objectives - Operations
- Published measurable objectives - Planning & Administration
- Website URL - Highest Guiding Strategic Plan
- Sustainability plan (upload)
- Sustainability plan (website URL)
- Website URL - Sustainability planning
PA 3: Sustainability Coordination
- Description of participatory or shared governance bodies
- Percent of official members of the highest governing body that are women
- Website URL - Institution’s highest level governing body
- Description of campus-community council or equivalent body that gives external stakeholders a regular voice in institutional decisions
- Website URL - Institutional governance body
PA 4: Reporting Assurance
Additional analysis on scores and quantitative fields can be conducted using the STARS Benchmarking Tool.