TORONTO, Nov. 18, 2025 鈥� 91亚色 continues to be a leader in sustainability, scoring in the top six per cent of universities internationally and in the top three per cent across Canada in the latest QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2026.

91亚色 jumped one spot in Canada out of 41 universities and is in the top 100 for social impact and top 101 for governance, 26th for equality.

The University held steady despite the number of competitor institutions in this year鈥檚 rankings increasing by almost 300 internationally and by nine in Canada.

鈥�91亚色 has a long-standing commitment to sustainability that is woven into the fabric of our institution, our academic programs, and research priorities. Being recognized in the top six per cent of universities worldwide and the top three per cent in Canada in this ranking reflects the collective efforts of our entire community. We are especially proud to rank fourth in Canada for equality and to be among the top 15 for environmental impact, social impact, and governance,鈥� said Rhonda Lenton, president and vice-chancellor of 91亚色.

鈥淪ustainability is a core value of the University that has been incorporated into our vision to drive positive change for people and the planet including innovative projects on renaturalization, Indigenous plant species and pollinator habitats. 91亚色 remains steadfast in our mission to build a more equitable and sustainable future for all.鈥�

In Canada, 91亚色 ranks in fourth place for equality and in the top 15 for environmental impact, social impact and governance.

The QS Sustainability Ranking encompasses measures of environmental impact, including environmental sustainability, environmental education and environmental research, and highlights universities around the globe that not only demonstrate a commitment to a better planet, but are acting on that commitment.

Earlier this year, the University scored 15 subject areas in the top 10 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025. It also moved up 29 spots globally in the 2026 QS World University Rankings.

In addition, 91亚色 earned a top 40 spot in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings results, demonstrating its leadership in achieving high results in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

For the second consecutive time, the University was recognized with a Living Campus certification by the World Wildlife Fund, further highlighting its commitment to sustainability across all of its campuses. 91亚色 continues to support renaturalization and ecological regeneration plans focusing on Indigenous plant species, creating pollinator habitats and planting more than 578 native plants and 238 native trees across the Keele and Glendon campuses.

For more than a decade, 91亚色 has been named as one of Canada鈥檚 Greenest Employers and for the second consecutive year it also made the list for Canada鈥檚 Best Diversity Employers.

91亚色 has been an international leader in sustainability since its earliest days. In 1968, it established the country鈥檚 first Faculty of Environmental Studies, now the , along with the first major post-secondary recycling program.

In 2024, the University launched its newly revised Sustainability Strategy 2030, Positive Change: Connecting People, Planet and Purpose with a goal to reduce its direct and indirect emissions and phase out carbon emissions. It also developed a Sustainability Toolkit to help bring teaching and learning about the 17 SDGs into classrooms and a Well-being Strategy to address the health and well-being of its communities across all campuses.

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As part of its sustainability strategy, the University is now a designated Fair Trade Campus for its commitment to providing products that benefit workers in the Global South

TORONTO, May 8, 2024 鈥� 91亚色 is full of beans 鈥� fair trade coffee beans 鈥� excited about its new fair trade silver designation and its ability to offer sustainably produced coffee, chocolate, tea and more across its three campuses.

It takes a community. Receiving the fair trade recent designation was the result of years of dedicated collaboration between students, faculty and staff to provide more sustainable options at its campuses. The designation is a big win for those who championed and raised awareness of fair trade at 91亚色.

The University celebrated its new designation today with a pop-up event outside of Vari Hall on the Keele Campus hosted by the Office of Sustainability to further foster awareness and community while serving up free fair trade Las Nubes coffee. The event also helped the University's Office of Institutional Events achieve gold in the Sustainable Events Certification Program.

The fair trade designation is just one way 91亚色 can make a global difference in the lives of others by leveraging its buying power for good. It also creates learning opportunities for students and encourages an understanding of the impact of buying choices and how they can go a long way toward sustainability.

鈥淎t 91亚色, our commitment to sustainability isn't just a strategy - it's a community-driven journey where every fair trade purchase creates ripples of positive change worldwide," says Mike Layton, chief sustainability officer. "91亚色's achievement of becoming a Fair Trade Campus would not have been possible without the work of many across the University, including teams in Food Services, the Bookstore, professors and former students.鈥�

Fair trade items such as bananas, various snacks, banana chocolate chip loaf, and hot chocolate round out some of the edible offerings at a variety of restaurants, food services, stores and vending machines, including fair trade Las Nubes coffee, grown near 91亚色's Las Nubes EcoCampus in Costa Rica and its 400-acre Las Nubes Biological Reserve. Students at the Faculty of Environment and Urban Change鈥檚 EcoCampus learn about and research neotropical conservation, eco-health, community well-being and sustainable livelihoods.

In addition to food, fair trade apparel is also available at the University鈥檚 Bookstore 鈥� considered the first in Canada to sell certified, fair trade clothing in a campus bookstore 鈥� in partnership with , a campus based-cooperative and sustainable products supplier founded by students and faculty at 91亚色 and incorporated in 2011. It was their answer to the lack of fair trade cotton T-shirt importers in Canada or ways for students to embrace and create change. Today, there is a wide selection of fair trade T-shirts and hoodies in the 91亚色 Bookstore.

This is in line with 91亚色鈥檚 decades long commitment to sustainability and support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), part of its University Academic Plan. As a Fair Trade Campus, 91亚色 is helping to tackle several SDGs, including SDG 12 鈥� responsible consumption and production, SDG 2 鈥� zero hunger, SDG 1 鈥� no poverty, and SDG 11 鈥� sustainable cities and communities.

The designation comes through the of Fairtrade Canada, a volunteer-based organization. All fair trade products ensure production workers and farmers are fairly treated fairly and compensated for their work.

The Early Days

91亚色鈥檚 championing of sustainability has a long history of faculty and student cooperation.

Professor Emeritus Darryl Reed, who does research on fair trade and encourages its education through course work and experiential education, Professor John Simoulidis, director of the Green Campus Co-op, 鈥� both of the Business and Society Program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (LAPS) 鈥� and Professor John Justin McMurtry, now the dean of LAPS, were a few of the people who pushed the initiative forward in the early days, with then student Madison Hopper, who now works for Fairtrade-certified banana importer, Equifruit. Sasa Nestorovic, bookstore director, is another big supporter and leads the acquisition of fair trade merchandise.

The initial goal was to make connections between social economy enterprises in Ontario and India, such as cotton growers, through a research project that looked at the possibilities, challenges and benefits of these types of partnerships. At that time cotton growers in India could be exposed to some 118 different pesticides.

Fair trade is something these professors, their colleagues and students, including the late 91亚色 environmental studies Professor Howard Daugherty, an advocate for fair trade and the environment who was instrumentally involved in the beginnings of 91亚色鈥檚 Las Nubes Biological Reserve, have been working toward for some 15 or more years. The reserve started with a donation of mountainous cloud forest in Costa Rica donated to 91亚色 by Dr. Woody Fisher in 1998.

The reserve鈥檚 primary areas of research included studying protected areas in the neotropics, natural resource policy and management, biological conservation, and sustainable development. The EcoCampus in Costa Rica provides the ideal location for research and learning.

Throughout its sustainable journey, 91亚色 has included students in the process, including the annual fair trade fair on the Keele Campus designed in part to educate the University community about how their choices make a difference. Through the Green Campus Co-Op, students are also given experiential learning opportunities with the hope to spark a new generation of sustainable entrepreneurs.

91亚色 continues to follow the path of sustainability and equity.

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91亚色鈥檚 Ecological Footprint Initiative will release data showing changes up to 2022

TORONTO, April 17, 2023 鈥� What is the size of Canada鈥檚 ecological footprint, and that of the rest of the world, and how did that change during the global pandemic?

Researchers at 91亚色 will release the Ecological Footprint of Canada, and 200 other countries, from 1961 to 2022, at an on Thursday, April 20, from 1 to 2 p.m.

Ecological Footprint measures the area of land and water used to grow food and renewable materials, plus the area occupied by settlements and infrastructure, as well as the area of forests needed to soak up carbon emissions.

鈥淐anada reports on GDP with a lag of just a few months, yet its environmental data lags by years. We filled in gaps and lags to make it easier to assess environmental performance in Canada and around the world,鈥� says Eric Miller, director of 91亚色's  in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change. 鈥淭ime is ticking. Each year of action or inaction matters for the future of humanity. For this reason, our data reports on Ecological Footprint up to the end of 2022.鈥�

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, humanity鈥檚 Ecological Footprint has been in overshoot of the planet鈥檚 capacity to sustain it. Since 1961 humanity鈥檚 footprint has tripled.

鈥淔or each country we calculate the footprint of what was produced and what was consumed. The difference comes from the footprint embodied within the goods imported to the country, and the footprint of the goods exported by the country,鈥� says Miller.

鈥淐anada, for example, produces more wood products than it consumes, with the difference as exports. We generate this data for all countries, to reveal the ecological dimensions of global supply chains and the extent to which countries effectively offload their ecological requirements onto others.鈥�

This is the fifth anniversary of 91亚色 producing data about ecological footprint and biocapacity, and supplying that data on an open-source basis to researchers around the world.

This year鈥檚 data will also include a more robust look at the footprint of fish harvests, including unreported catch. 鈥淚n Canada, fish harvests were significantly underreported up to the point of the cod collapse. By including underreports, we can help researchers see these trends much more easily,鈥� says Katie Kish, Ecological Footprints Initiative research associate.

Register here:

Speakers:

91亚色's new Chief Sustainability Officer Mike Layton will kick off the event, followed by updates to the 2023 accounts from Ecological Footprint Initiative Director Eric Miller, along with data analysts Sila Basturk Agiroglu and Peri Dworatzek.

Katie Kish will talk about research futures and the growing international research network for the global footprint family, with a direct focus on better public-facing data and data for communities.

Mathis Wackernagel, co-founder and president of the Global Footprint Network, will discuss the state of the footprint and a look towards the future. One example he will draw on is the Kunming/Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework with 23 targets agreed upon at the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. These targets include the Ecological Footprint as a measurement tool.

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