UBC has ranked number one among Canadian universities for environmental sustainability according to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
The AASHE uses a self-reporting system called the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System to identify schools with strong sustainability models. Overall, UBC ranked number nine, but in schools with enrolment of over 30,000, it was number two.
The university was given a gold rating by the AASHE.
“This achievement is a result of our long-standing commitment to sustainability and efforts to transform our campus into a living laboratory where scholars, researchers and operations staff collaborate to address pressing global sustainability challenges,” said James Tansey, director of the UBC Sustainability Initiative in a statement.
UBC was the first Canadian university to open a sustainability office 18 years ago and received a gold rating from the institution and the maximum number of “innovation credits” possible.
The school fared well for its commitment to having a zero-waste campus and for energy system upgrades to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ninety-one per cent of all construction and demolition waste on campus was diverted from landfills.
UBC also offers over 600 courses with a sustainability focus and 40 sustainability-related programs.
Students and faculty contributed to the high rating as well, with 71 per cent of them using transit, walking, cycling, or carpooling to classes.
The top ten most sustainable post-secondary schools in Canada are:
- UBC (Vancouver)
- Loyalist College (Belleville, Ontario)
- Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (Edmonton)
- University of Manitoba (Winnipeg)
- Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (Toronto)
- Thompson Rivers University (Vancouver)
- University of Winnipeg (Winnipeg)
- University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon)
- Dalhousie (Halifax)
- George Brown College (Toronto)
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