Guelph - The Council of Ontario Universities (COU) yesterday released a new report on universities' efforts to "green" their campuses. It details sustainability initiatives at 22 campuses, including U of G, and identifies areas for future advancement. It's part of a sustainability pledge made by the executive heads of Ontario universities and presented to the Ontario government.

The report is the result of a comprehensive survey undertaken by COU to create an inventory of the environmental actions at Ontario’s universities. It highlights university projects in nine key categories, including research and curriculum, policies, buildings and green space, and energy and water management.

As part of the provincial effort, U of G will be releasing its own sustainability report and new website on its environmental initiatives on Friday. It will include an overview of activities and initiatives underway at Guelph to reduce the size of the campus’s ecological footprint.

The U of G report highlights the changes people across campus are engaged in individually and collectively to find ways of generating less waste and using less energy, water and other resources. It also notes how the University’s commitment to sustainability is woven into a number of key planning and policy documents and into research and teaching.

“This report also celebrates and thanks the U of G community for all of its actions on behalf of sustainability,” says Nancy Sullivan, vice-president (finance and administration). “We will also use this new website as a way to chart our progress as we strive to make our campus even greener.”