NECSC-STARS: Guiding Campuses Toward Sustainability

Emerging Futures in Higher Education     

Climate Change Demographic Pressure Recruitment and Retention Need for Accountability Need for a Sustainability Reporting Model

Business Experience with Scorecard Performance Measurement  Top down and bottom up processes  Internal Stakeholders are the key constituents  External Reporting  Flexibility is critical  Cost benefit considerations

STARS Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System Lead Barbara Charkey, Prof. of Management, Keene State College

Presenters Linda Hadden, Prof. of Management, Keene State College Kathleen Ng, Environmental Officer, McGill University Paul Rowland, Executive Director, AASHE Jillian Buckholz, STARS Program Coordinator, AASHE

Paul Rowland Executive Director, AASHE

What is STARS? •

An innovative, voluntary, self-reporting framework for recognizing and gauging progress toward sustainability for colleges and universities.

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A guide for advancing sustainability in all sectors of higher education.

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A common standard of measurement for sustainability in higher education.

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A tool that promotes a comprehensive understanding of sustainability that includes its social, economic and environmental dimensions.

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STARS offers all campuses in the U.S. and Canada a means by which to assess their performance and be recognized for those efforts.

Important Milestones • HEASC • AASHE 2006 • Public Comment Periods

What are the benefits of participating in STARS?

STARS Rating: What does it mean?

Comparing STARS to other rating systems

Jillian Buckholz STARS Program Coordinator, AASHE

Collaboration vs. Competition

Categories Education & Research Operations Planning, Administration & Engagement Innovation

Subcategories Education & Research Co-Curricular Education; Curriculum; Research

Operations Buildings; Climate; Dining Services; Energy; Grounds; Purchasing; Transportation; Waste; Water

Planning, Administration & Engagement Coordination & Planning; Diversity and Affordability; Human Resources; Investment; Public Engagement

1. Credit Rationale 2. Criteria 3. Applicability 4. Scoring

5. Reporting Fields 6. Measurement 7. Standards and Terms

Number of Credits Pilot

1.0

Prerequisites Tier 1 Credits

2 88

0 65

Tier 2 Credits Innovation Credits Total

89 4 183

67 4 137

Changes to the Credits 1) Streamlined reporting requirements - Separated required, conditional, and optional reporting fields - Minimize controversial data collection issues

2) Supplemental guidance and definitions - Anticipate areas of confusion - Ongoing process

3) No trend-based credits

4) Incremental Credit Scoring

Example Pilot: Earn points if and only if 100% of cleaning products are Green Seal certified STARS 1.0: Earn points based on the % of cleaning products that are certified (e.g., earn half of the points if 50% of products are certified)

Credit Weighting • To what extent does the credit contribute to improved environmental, financial, and social impacts?

• To what extent are there educational benefits associated with the achievement of this credit?

• How many people are impacted (breadth)?

• How deeply are people impacted (depth)?

Scoring Average of the 3 categories + Innovation Credits Example: Edu. & Research – 30 Operations – 25 Plan., Admin. & Engage. – 35 Average = 30 + 2 Innovation = 32 Final Score

STARS Ratings Rating Level STARS Bronze STARS Silver STARS Gold STARS Platinum STARS Reporter

Minimum Score Required 25 45 65 85 For institutions that wish to use STARS and submit data publicly but are not pursuing a rating

Verification •First, for each credit, a point person from the institution will provide a statement that the information submitted is accurate.

•Second, the institution’s president or chancellor must write a letter stating that all the information submitted is true.

•Third, all information that the institution submits will be made publicly available through the STARS website.

Timeframe

Early Release Associate's Colleges Delta College - University Center, MI* Eastern Iowa Community College District - Davenport, IA* Grand Rapids Community College - Grand Rapids, MI* Hibbing Community College - Hibbing, MN Kankakee Community College - Kankakee, IL Los Angeles Community College District - Los Angeles, CA Richland Community College - Decatur, IL Western Technical College - LaCrosse, WI Baccalaureate Colleges Furman University - Greenville, SC Green Mountain College - Poultney, VT Middlebury College - Middlebury, VT* Mount Union College - Alliance, OH* Pomona College - Claremont, CA Williams College - Williamstown, MA* Master's Colleges and Universities Appalachian State University - Boone, NC* Fairfield University - Fairfield, CT Florida Gulf Coast University - Fort Myers, FL* Ithaca College - Ithaca, NY Pacific Lutheran University - Tacoma, WA* Seattle Pacific University - Seattle, WA*

Research Universities Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ* Ball State University - Muncie, IN* Emory University - Atlanta, GA* Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI Morgan State University - Baltimore, MD Rice University - Houston, TX San Diego State University - San Diego, CA University of British Columbia - Vancouver, BC* University of California, Los Angeles - Los Angeles, CA University of Colorado at Boulder - Boulder, CO* University of Florida - Gainesville, FL* University of Houston - University Park - Houston, TX University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Chapel Hill, NC University of Texas at Austin - Austin, TX* Wake Forest University - Winston-Salem, NC Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Worcester, MA* Special Focus Institutions Babson College - Babson Park, MA (*) Indicates pilot participant

January Launch • • • •

Reporting Tool STARS website Logos Media campaign

Founding Partners of STARS

Get More Information bcharkey@keene.edu lhadden@keene.edu www.aashe.org/stars paul.rowland@aashe.org stars@aashe.org www.mcgill.ca/rethink rethink@mcgill.ca

Environmental Policy & EMS @McGill

Kathleen Ng, Environmental Officer, Sustainability Office - Campus and Space Planning, University Services www.mcgill.ca/sustainability

Agenda 

Background ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦

McGill context Environmental policy development Reporting & EMS evolution Lessons learned

McGill context Founded 1821  Research-intensive  In brief: 

◦ 3 campuses  Heritage zones  Research stations

◦ 11 faculties, ±300 programs ◦ Population ± 35K ◦ 4 affiliated hospitals

Policy evolution 

Environmental workgroup ◦ Environmental policy 2001

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Sub-Committee on Environment ◦ Paper use policy 2005

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Annual Rethink conference ◦ Dialogue ◦ Transparency

Sustainability Office Foster culture of sustainability  Resource for McGill faculty, staff and students  Liaison with community groups 

Not just the right thing to do… 

Commitments ◦ Talloires Agreement, Halifax Declaration ◦ Municipal strategic plan

Regulations  Proactivity 

◦ UNDESD: RCE-UNU

Reporting 

Internal ad hoc qualitative reports ◦ Annual Rethink conference ◦ SCE SCPDSenate ◦ Principal & Vice-Chancellor

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Government ◦ NPRI ◦ GHG ◦ Ville de Montréal PSDD

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AASHE Campus Leadership award

Campus EMS systems?

ISO 140001  Environmental review 

◦ Workstudy student/consultant 

SYC CSAF ◦ Sustainable McGill Project

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EcoCampus

Campus EMS systems - present CREPUQ indicators  Sustainability policy (TBD)  Loi DD – Plan d’action 

◦ Indicators

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AASHE STARS

◦ Developed by practitioners  Collegial  Transparent  Public

◦ Apples to apples

Lessons learned 

Growing pains ◦ Define “…” ◦ Who has the data?  Follow-ups

◦ Data cohesion ◦ Data entry 

Now what? ◦ VisibleStrategies?

Working together ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦

E-mail rethink@mcgill.ca RETHINKFORUM LISTSERV Online: www.mcgill.ca/rethink Discuss: http://talkrethink.mcgill.ca ◦ Annual Rethink conference ◦ Facebook