Universities have historically been leaders in medicine, the arts, science, engineering and more. In the last several years, they have also been taking leadership on sustainability - from energy and water use to building design to investing university endowments in sustainable companies and technologies. So many universities are now pursuing sustainability that awards programs and benchmarking reports from third-parties have sprung up to recognize best practices in campus sustainability and encourage continued action.

A few educational institutions have been leaders in sustainability for decades, and their strong leadership has sparked other universities and academic consortia to follow suit. The University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) has long practiced sustainability in campus operations, purchasing and education.  Harvard University has had a Green Loan Fund since 1992 to provide capital for environmental projects like energy efficiency improvements. The Fund has now become a model for other universities wanting to finance campus energy efficiency projects.  Harvard also launched a Sustainability Program in 2008 to provide environmental education to the Harvard community, reduce water use and waste, and pursue the use of renewable energy on campus.

Today leading universities are practicing sustainability in the areas of operations, education, purchasing and investing.  As far as sustainable operations, colleges are recycling, composting, buying organic food, and launching campus gardens to reduce emissions from shipping in food.  To save energy they're launching energy efficiency education campaigns, retrofitting lighting systems, and installing power management software on computers to put them into sleep mode after a certain period of inactivity.  To conserve water resources they are recycling and reclaiming water for use in landscaping as well as xeriscaping to reduce the need for water on landscaping.  Another major sustainable operations effort involves constructing and renovating buildings to be compliant with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.  These "green buildings" use sustainable building materials like bamboo, efficient heating and cooling systems, solar power, low-flush toilets and whole other range of innovations.

Academic institutions are also educating their students through their environmental studies programs, environmental study abroad opportunities and even trips outdoors like backpacking and kayaking.  Other members of the campus community - professors, administrators, staff and neighboring cities - are also included in sustainability marketing campaigns, energy efficiency efforts, etc.  Staff within administrative offices, housing and dining services, campus operations and more are serving as internal champions to encourage sustainability.

Universities purchase thousands of goods each day, so their environmentally preferred purchasing practices are another major method of practicing campus sustainability.  The University of California has an Environmentally Preferred Purchasing policy for each of their ten campuses that requires them to buy green goods like recycled paper and other products with minimized environmental impact.

Last, investing the university endowment in sustainable companies and technologies is another way higher education is becoming more sustainable.  Endowment managers seek companies that practice  sustainability initiatives, as well as those pioneering clean technologies.  Because many universities, particularly Ivy Leagues, have huge endowments they can use their dollars to influence the environmental practices of the companies they invest in.

To encourage more efforts like those above, many third parties have begun to track and rank campus sustainability.  The American Colleges and Universities Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) was launched in 2006 to encourage universities to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  Institutions that sign the commitment agree to inventory their emissions, set goals to become climate neutral (release zero emissions or offset their emissions), reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the short-term, integrate sustainability into curriculum, and make a comprehensive climate action plan, inventory and progress reports available to the public.  Additionally, the Sustainable Endowment Institute creates an annual report card of universities' sustainability practices, including the way they invest their endowments.  Similarly, the Responsible Endowment Coalition launches green investing campaigns at universities to change their endowment policies and practices.

Through their sustainability initiatives, universities have found they attracting more students, saving money and improving their reputations as leaders in the community.  In turn, students and communities can encourage continued action by universities by asking them to follow the examples of the leaders described here.

Photo credit: www.studentaid2.ed.gov