91��ɫ

Author: Marie Visca Scime

November 6, 2024

The renewed strategy, Positive Change: Connecting People, Planet and Purpose, builds on the University’s proven track record as an international leader in sustainability-related research, teaching, partnerships and campus practices.

Connecting people, planet and purpose – that’s the overarching goal of 91��ɫ’s new institutional sustainability strategy.

Released today, the strategy outlines the University’s call to action and collective responsibility to create and realize a vision for a greener future. It represents a collection of insights, actions, and commitments influenced and recommended by hundreds of students, faculty, instructors and staff in pursuit of sustainability goals.

“At 91��ɫ, we recognize the importance of convening people and ideas for meaningful action,” said Rhonda Lenton, president and vice-chancellor. “Our leadership in sustainability programming, research and campus operations reflects the commitment, expertise, and innovation of our community members and our ability to work collaboratively to develop solutions to respond to the climate crisis. Our sustainability goals, including our ambitious target to achieve net zero by 2040, have been strengthened through the development of our new strategy and are supported by strategic actions that comprise our road map to achieve them.”

The new strategy will lead the University through to its near-term emission reduction and sustainability targets in the year 2030 and lay a strong foundation for its longer-term target to achieve net zero in direct and indirect emissions, referred to as Scope 1 and 2, by 2040. It will serve as an important pillar to advance several priorities in the University Academic Plan, including knowledge for the future, working in partnership and living well together, and help strengthen 91��ɫ’s contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

To do so, the strategy is divided into three pillars – people, knowledge and place – each with their own objectives and actions. The pillars are a continuation of the goals identified in the University’s inaugural sustainability strategy in 2017, paying homage to the institution’s historical efforts and successes in meeting bold targets in the present day.

Actions within each pillar were designed to be clear, specific and measurable, serving as a testament to the broad consultation that took place across the University to clearly identify opportunities to better embed sustainability in processes, systems, operations and policies.

The strategy also contains a transparent snapshot of 91��ɫ’s current Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions and 2030 emissions reduction plan, generated by the  and operational data from the Energy Management team in Facilities Services.  

“Corporate and organizational greenwashing is so prevalent that the federal government released a bill earlier this year to address it,” said Mike Layton, chief sustainability officer. “Our strategy contains clear information about where we are, so we can understand where we want to go and how to get there. Being specific in our actions is intentional – we’re standing behind our commitments and we have a plan to turn them into reality.”

As with past sustainability action commitments, buy-in and active participation from the 91��ɫ community is integral to meeting organizational targets. In addition to over 5,000 interactions with students, faculty, instructors, staff, alumni and neighbouring community members during the development of the strategy, ongoing implementation will be guided by the University’s sustainability framework, which includes working groups comprised of faculty, staff and students. The groups – organized across thematic areas including biodiversity, energy and buildings, sustainable procurement, teaching and learning, transportation, water and zero waste – are responsible for providing direction in conjunction with best practices in their respective sector, developing action plans, advancing research, aligning operations and co-ordinating major initiatives.

Read 91��ɫ’s new sustainability strategy here and learn more about ways to take action.

Originally posted on YFile