The History of the Strategy
The University’s plan to right the future and create positive change affects every corner of our campuses. Our plan shapes our teaching and research, and impacts decision-making across at every level of the institution. As the third largest university in Canada, York has an extensive history demonstrating commitment to sustainability, which includes the development of the first Sustainability Strategy in 2017. This strategy was intended to be reviewed every five years. Members of the York community were invited to participate and give their ideas and input on key issues such as energy, climate change, waste management, transportation, social justice, and many other sustainability issues facing the University now and into the future. Read the 2017 Sustainability Strategy here.
PEOPLE
York University is fostering a culture of sustainability and collaborative behaviour to pursue local and global sustainability objectives and actions in our community and beyond. The York community includes its students, faculty, instructors and staff, and other organizations, alumni, and neighbours. York’s holistic understanding of sustainability includes the intersection of human well-being and the environment and recognizes the social, economic, and environmental roles of York University in, and with, our local neighbourhoods and world.
- Demonstrate sustainability as a core value and foster a culture of sustainability and stewardship across our community members and beyond to become influencers of societal transformation towards sustainability.
- Support initiatives that address food insecurity and food justice on campus and in our community.
- Maintain a holistic approach that includes social sustainability—embedding York as an anchor institution in our local community—and contribute to global action through the SDGs.
- Strengthen reciprocal relations with Indigenous communities, including students, faculty, instructors, and staff, in sustainability leadership, planning, and action.
- Enhance the physical environment to be more inclusive, accessible, and equitable, where everyone has the potential to feel a sense of belonging and respect.
- Embed arts and culture as a tool for social and environmental transformation.
- Support efforts to become signatories to the Okanagan Charter, acknowledging the interconnectedness of health and the physical environment, consistent with the Well-being Strategy.
- Implement the Sustainability Framework and report annually on progress in advancing the sustainability strategy and working-group initiatives.
- Embed sustainability in the Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs), annual Performance Dialogue Process (PDP), leadership competencies, and new job descriptions.
- Support efforts to advance a housing strategy that reflects the outcomes of the sustainability strategy and the unique needs of the institution.
- Implement strategies to ensure low-carbon, sustainable, local, diverse, and nutritious food is accessible, and develop metrics to track progress.
- Actively engage in regional and international partnerships and collaborations—including levels of government in Canada, other nations, intergovernmental agencies, industry, and global civil society—that support sustainability.
- Increase student, faculty, instructor, staff, and alumni engagement to promote awareness and action on sustainability issues, including tools to support direct action and participation in community and global events.
- Enhance sustainability storytelling—covering operations, teaching, and research—to deepen community engagement and foster action.
- Demonstrate conscious efforts to advance the arts as a tool for social and environmental transformation in operations, learning, and research.
- Create opportunities for youth leadership and empowerment in sustainability initiatives.
- Ensure the arts and cultural facilities at York support planning, operations, and programming through a social and environmental sustainability lens.
- Build on York’s success with the Anchor York U Framework to position York as a collaborative community leader with impact in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and beyond.
- Establish additional spaces for Indigenous culture and community within the University.
KNOWLEDGE
York University’s mission is the pursuit, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge through excellence in research and a commitment to enhancing the well-being of the communities we serve. York’s commitment to sustainability is evident in the University Academic Plan’s focus on advancing the global SDGs.
York’s Strategic Research Plan highlights York’s expertise in justice, equity, and sustainability with a focus on strategic research, action, and innovation that foster and develop healthy communities, equity, and global well-being. York aspires to develop pathways for all students, faculty, instructors, and staff to access sustainability curriculum—especially experiential education opportunities in sustainability—to gain knowledge and influence change.
- Promote program- and course-level learning objectives and outcomes that identify and articulate global sustainability challenges and solutions.
- Support faculty, staff and students to actively engage in public discourse and experiential learning opportunities on global and local environmental issues, consistent with the UAP.
- Increase faculty awareness of, and access to, curricular resources and experiential learning opportunities that heighten student engagement with sustainability in the curriculum.
- Draw on the expertise of York researchers and instructors to build on York’s international reputation for sustainability that attracts students and encourages collaboration with public and private partners.
- Support and accelerate inclusive opportunities to connect York University (students, faculty, instructors, staff and alumni).
- Following the principles of York’s Master Plan—with a pedestrian-first and “vision-zero” road-safety approach—ensure campuses have a safe and efficient transportation network.
- Embed sustainability into corporate travel that minimizes emissions, maintains global connectivity, and maximizes institutional outcomes.
- Mitigate the ecological impact of food consumed on campus.
- Regenerate local ecosystems and biodiversity on University lands to foster ecological, healthy and inviting campuses.
- Prioritize community and ecological health by reducing the use of, and exposure to, toxic chemicals in all operations, construction and materials.
- Integrate sustainability into day-to-day operations and long-term planning, including financial, investment and IRPs.
- Maximize the impact of physical assets to accelerate campus sustainability and resiliency.
- Increase the proportion of goods and services that advance sustainable procurement goals—addressing environmental and social considerations within our campuses and along the value chains—and integrate entrepreneurs, innovators and startups into University objectives through clear procurement pathways that leverage their technologies and services.
- Achieve Sustainability Tracking Assessment & Rating System (STARS) Platinum through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
- Establish campuses as living labs for sustainability-related projects by encouraging the use of campus operations, grounds and buildings for research and experiential opportunities, and by increasing participation in sustainability classroom-based exercises by internal and external partners.
- Make new knowledge accessible to the broader community, including schools and educators.
- Work with academic leadership to assess the presence of sustainability objectives and outcomes in program review processes.
- Support programs in reflecting on how their objectives align with sustainability during the Cyclical Review Process, including opportunities for experiential learning.
- Create a resource bank that shows how global sustainability challenges and solutions can be incorporated into curricular innovation.
- Regularly assess student literacy in sustainability and the SDGs.
- Develop and maintain support mechanisms for innovative campus-based sustainability projects led by faculty, staff, and students.
- Develop a framework for removing barriers to implementing living-lab projects on campus and in the local community to support classroom-based living-lab learning experiences.
- Advance sustainability research, pursue funding opportunities, and encourage collaborations among Faculties, researchers, other institutions, and external partners.
- Develop tools to embed principles of sustainable design into the grant development process.
- Amplify sustainability research and knowledge mobilization in local, national, and global communities.
PLACE
Campus sustainability consists of development, operations and maintenance on our campuses. New development is guided by green building targets, and York is building on successes with waste diversion, sustainable procurement, transportation, carbon reductions and operations.
- Phase out carbon emissions and achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 for scope 1 & 2 emissions, and develop targets for scope 3 emissions wherever feasible.
- Transform York University into a model of sustainable design, with all new buildings and major renovations built to net-zero and, where possible, net-positive.
- Aspire to be a zero-waste institution, upholding the principles of circularity and the waste hierarchy (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle+).
- Reduce water use on campus, focusing on lowering per-person and campus-wide consumption.
- Protect watersheds and optimize storm-water repurposing or on-site reuse while minimizing storm-water runoff.
- Increase the proportion of commuters travelling by low-emission options.
- Develop a space-utilization plan that maximizes efficiency in the use, heating, and cooling of campus buildings—accounting for hybrid work policies and fostering social inclusion and community building.
- Develop a strategy to decarbonize central utilities on all campuses.
- Establish a standard that all new construction and major renovations must be net-zero and, where feasible, net-positive, addressing embedded carbon.
- Create an institution-wide plan to right-size and decarbonize fleet vehicles.
- Develop a corporate-travel policy and plan that minimizes emissions and maintains global connectivity while maximizing institutional priorities.
- Develop micro-mobility, active-transportation, and road-safety plans for York’s campuses.
- Develop plans to reduce commuting emissions by improving and encouraging public transit and other low-carbon commuting options.
- Enhance purchasing policies and procedures to include environmental sustainability alongside existing social considerations, and implement them across all purchasing categories.
- Develop a water and storm-water-management plan that optimizes efficiency, repurposing or reusing on-site water, minimizes runoff, and promotes water-conscious behaviour and building standards.
- Develop a waste-reduction plan that emphasizes the waste hierarchy and circularity, with particular attention to single-use plastics and organics.
- Develop, update and implement campus-wide re-naturalization and ecological regeneration plans prioritizing Indigenous plants, aligning with the York University Secondary Plan policies for natural heritage and the Keele Campus Master Plan Greening York recommendations.
- Ensure York facilities and campuses operate as part of the community-wide network of habitat for animal and plant species and as an inviting and positive space for teaching and learning.
- Maintain an investment policy that addresses inherent risk of climate change, actively promotes transition to a low-carbon economy, and follows the best practices for Environmental, Social Governance (ESG) approaches.
- Demonstrate accountability by maintaining an annual inventory for scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions and report regularly on interim targets and progress to achieve sustainability objectives.
- Develop an institutional climate vulnerability assessment that identifies specific risks and potential mitigation measures.
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