Administrative Commitment
One of the most frequently cited definitions of sustainability, as it is linked to development, came from the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. The commission defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
The University of Virginia recognizes that leadership and administrative support are critical steps in advancing sustainability at the University. Recent action by U.Va.’s Board of Visitors is among the latest, and the most prominent, in a series of administrative commitments to sustainability that date back to U.Va.’s signing of the Talloires Declaration in 1991.
Developed by the Presidential Committee on Sustainability and endorsed by the Faculty Senate, Student Council, General Faculty Council, and all Employee Councils, the commitment sets a specific greenhouse gas reduction target and reaffirms the University’s broader commitment to sustainability in operations, outreach, research, and education.
- Approved by Board of Visitors on June 10, 2011
WHEREAS the University of Virginia has a long tradition of environmental stewardship guided by values that have come to be recognized as sustainability principles,
WHEREAS the University of Virginia has taken a leadership role to promote sustainability,
RESOLVED:- The University of Virginia will undertake to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions to 250,000 metric tons or less by 2025, 25 percent below 2009 levels and over a third less than expected 2025 emissions without this commitment.
- The University will utilize the highest standards of environmental stewardship and resource conservation and will address other areas of concern beyond greenhouse gas emissions, such as waste, water, nitrogen, stream and river protection, noise and light pollution, open space protection, and conservation of the historical and cultural legacy of the community.
- The University will educate and engage its students, faculty, staff, and the larger community; contribute to knowledge through research; promote health and well being; and foster public service related to these sustainability principles.
- These initiatives will be supported by comprehensive planning for and communication about sustainability.
- Initiatives will be evaluated on the basis of benefit, cost, and availability of funding.
- A report on sustainability will be prepared annually for the President. Progress on sustainability initiatives will be presented to the Board of Visitors every two years.
Sustainability efforts are embedded in U.Va.’s governance, culture, and academics, as well as throughout University operational areas of planning, design, construction, transportation, food service, energy use, water use, waste and recycling.
- Presidential Committee on Sustainability renamed University Committee on Sustainability to reflect expanded reporting structure of committee.
- Over $2 million realized in cumulative energy cost savings related to Delta Force’s effort to retrocommission buildings to conserve energy.
- Observatory Hill Dining Hall participated in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Battle of the Buildings.”
- Sustainability Pledge reached goal of 1,000 pledge-takers by Earth Day.
- U.Va. Sustainability Minor is approved and the first students accepted.
- Monthly meetings launched of Sustainability Partners, a new volunteer network of employees who discuss, develop, promote, and implement sustainable practices throughout U.Va. and beyond.
- U.Va. launches Sustainability Pledge that encourages individuals to explore ways to live more sustainably.
- Unity Project celebrated 40th Earth Day with 40 Earth Week Events.
- U.Va. became charter participant in Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance, developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
- U.Va. President John T. Casteen III signed The Universitas 21 Statement on Sustainability
- U.Va. Dining/ARAMARK hired first Sustainability Coordinator.
- Students chose sustainability as theme for the University Unity Project.
- President's Committee on Sustainability created to advise top leaders on “matters related to the overall quality, diligence, and progress of the University’s commitment to sustainability in the broad sense of environmental, economic and social impacts.”
- U.Va.’s Darden School of Business committed to become a zero waste, carbon neutral enterprise by 2020 and a top ten business school for teaching and research on sustainability by 2013.
- U.Va.’s Energy and Utilities Department launched Delta Force to retrocommission buildings with a focus on energy conservation.
- The University completed a carbon emissions inventory and began developing a carbon reduction plan.
- Global Sustainability Course first offered as three-credit seminar.
- U.Va. filled its first two sustainability positions.
- U.Va. enacted an updated energy and sustainability policy.
- U.Va. Board of Visitors approved requirement that all new and major renovation building projects will be LEED certified.
- Student Council created Environmental Sustainability Committee.
- U.Va. launched Sustainability Advisory Panel to help guide future sustainability planning.
- Parking and Transportation launched free bus transit program.
- Architect’s Office released first U.Va. Sustainability Assessment, a comprehensive report on sustainability initiatives that also provided a road map for future initiatives.