The University of Victoria has a reputation as one of the most sustainable campuses in Canada, but have you ever wondered what it takes to create and maintain a sustainable campus? The recently published 2009-2011 Progress Report on the Sustainability Action Plan summarizes efforts since 2009 to achieve the goals and targets of the Sustainability Action Plan: Campus Operations, 2009-2014, a strategic plan to guide the university’s approach to sustainability in operations. And much of the news is good.

The Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability works collaboratively with departments and units across campus to make the plan’s goals a reality, and UVic has made progress in many areas including sustainable transportation, purchasing, food, green buildings and water management.

UVic successfully became a “carbon neutral” campus at the end of 2010 by conducting a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory, achieving reductions and efficiencies where possible and purchasing offsets. The new South Tower residence building, completed in 2010, is targeted to achieve the gold standard in the LEED green building rating system, joining five other LEED gold buildings on campus. The Revolving Sustainability Fund, established with initial capital funding of $250,000, gave out the first loans in late 2011 that will reduce water consumption in chemistry teaching labs and electrical consumption in building operations.

Other accomplishments over the past two years include the creation of Sustainability Action Teams in buildings across campus, a shift to providing fair-trade certified products in all campus food outlets, the adoption of a triple-bottom-line framework for major purchasing decisions and the preparation of an integrated energy master plan for the campus.

In other areas, such as waste management and energy use, work is ongoing to address sustainability challenges and meet the ambitious goals of the Sustainability Action Plan. For example, as of late 2011 the campus waste diversion rate was 64 per cent, creeping upward toward the overall goal of 75 per cent. A recent campus waste audit report recommended increasing the composting of food waste, paper towels and paper cups as a possible way to reach that target.

To read the progress report and find out more about other sustainability initiatives, visit www.uvic.ca/sustainability.

Video recording: Reporting on Sustainability Progress at the University of Victoria 2009-2011
A 50-minute recording of a presentation by Neil Connelly, Director, Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability for the Pacific Insitute for Climate Solutions, Jan. 2012, is available at http://www.pics.uvic.ca/webstream.php#connelly.

Sustainability video: Watch it on YouTube!
UVic sustainability coordinators Rita Fromholt and Dan MacKinnon provide an overview of UVic’s sustainability initiatives in a short video available at http://youtu.be/Nhoryzuhi1A.