AU received a D+ for environmental sustainability on a Sustainable Endowments Institute report card, which ranks U.S. and Canadian colleges.
The second annual College Sustainability Report Card assessed 200 public and private universities with the highest endowments. The report structured its findings across eight categories.
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SUSTAINABILITY RANKINGS
Although AU received a D+ on the College Sustainability Report Card 2008 by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, other schools in the surrounding D.C. area also received grades for environmental sustainability in the eight categories ranked. Other nearby schools and their grades include: Georgetown University: B- University of Virginia: B- University of Maryland: C+ Virginia Tech: C- George Washington University: D+ Howard University: F Catholic University, George Mason University and Gallaudet University were not evaluated in the report. SOURCE: College Sustainability Report Card 2008 |
The report focused on two major aspects of sustainability: a campus' "green" operations and its endowment policies. The five campus-related categories were administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, transportation and "green" buildings; the remaining three were endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement.
Endowment transparency is necessary to foster dialogue about possible investment in renewable energy, according to the report.
The D+ was deserved, said Claire Roby, the Student Government environmental policy director and former Eco-Sense president. AU has fallen behind in its environmental policies due partially to higher environmental standards constantly being set, she said.
"We need to make some big changes, particularly in climate change," she said.
The low grade was a disappointment, current Eco-Sense President Shilpa Joshi said. She said she felt the brief report was essentially an endowment assessment that did not fully reflect AU's environmental efforts.
Eco-Sense has done a lot to promote a more environmentally friendly campus, Joshi said. The low grades were simply out of both the Facilities Management's and Eco-Sense's control.
AU received failing grades in its endowment transparency policies and shareholder engagement. A known disclosure policy does not exist, leaving everyone except shareholders in the dark about where the university's money is being spent, the report concluded.
While the report showed a significant increase in the number of green initiatives on college campuses nationwide, over half of the participating universities received F's in applying sustainability practices to their endowment investments, according to the news release.
AU scored a B on green buildings. The grade reflected AU's efforts in achieving high marks in the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, which sets the standard of green building design, construction and operation, according to the USGBC Web site.
AU registered 30 buildings with the program, whose rating system consists of three levels, Joshi said. The new School of International Service building, to be completed by 2009, will meet the highest standards, she said.
The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a sustainability contract signed by university presidents, focuses on similar criteria as the report card, Roby said.
In an address to students Tuesday night, university President Neil Kerwin said he expected to sign the Presidents Climate Commitment by the end of the academic year, but that he could make no promises to a specific date.
AU was graded down in transportation, but Joshi said the report card didn't mention that Eco-Sense had already voted in favor of, and is in the process of switching, the entire AU shuttle fleet over to biofuel.
Signing the Presidents Climate Commitment would be the next logical step to reducing "AU's environmental footprint," Roby said.
"Signing the Presidents Climate Commitment would raise AU to a leadership position and help us become a more responsible global citizen as an institute," she said.
At a Tuesday event, Roby confronted Kerwin about the high turnover rate of the sustainability coordinator position within the Office of Facilities Management, citing complaints from previous coordinators that they did not have enough access to the wider university system to "make any broad sweeping changes to bring the university's carbon footprint down."
The Environmental Issues Projects Team is the place to go if someone wants to put critical questions on a broader university agenda, Kerwin said.
The team has not met since fall 2006 due to the lack of a sustainability coordinator, who convenes the team's meetings, according to Roby.
