unh is home to the oldest endowed sustainability program in the u.s.  as we look to the future, we will act with courage to build powerful collaborations that can deepen unh’s commitment to sustainability and enhance our contributions in our communities. 

our long-time commitment drives us today to bring diverse people and ideas together to make unh a model sustainable learning community – reaching across and beyond campus to engage state, regional, national, and international partners to advance sustainable solutions, together. 

1. share the university’s sustainability story and encourage the campus community to support the growth and success of sustainable practices.

2. provide strategic advice, information and resources to faculty, staff and students working to integrate sustainability practices and policies into their programming;

3. develop policies that promote environmentally-sensitive behavior by campus users and responsible development and stewardship of campus assets;

4. create, implement and manage innovative programs and events, in partnership with other campus units whenever possible;

5. establish metrics and track institutional sustainability performance;

our sustainable futures strategy has already achieved significant progress against the 2005 baseline data, including a 30% reduction in co2 emissions and a reduction in water usage of 142,000m3. 

we hold several accreditations including: ecocampus gold; fairtrade status; and zero waste to landfill. we also rank 12th in the uk in the green metric world university ranking on sustainability.

however, we recognise that we must do more. we are currently working on a new sustainability strategy and action plan which will include:

• targets for substantially reducing of our carbon footprint;
• further investment to deliver a step change in the sustainability of our estate; 
• and our approach to engaging our communities through the ethos of co-commitment. 

our research and knowledge exchange activity delivers solutions to address global societal challenges. from the development of the net zero industry innovation centre which is supporting the ongoing drive for clean energy and sustainability, to the borderlands project which is building sustainable communities, innovation powers our steps. 

our future facing learning framework encourages our students to become socially and ethically engaged and the new learning model developed by teesside university international business school has sustainability at its core. 

our £280m campus masterplan has been developed to ensure that our campus remains vibrant and future-proofed, with all new builds achieving the building sustainability rating standard (breeam) and sustainable procurement practices embedded in masterplan projects. 

through this approach, teesside university is playing its part in addressing the societal challenges we face on a local, regional, national and global scale.

major advocacy checkpoints for the department of rhetoric & communication studies and the university are food insecurity and technology divides in the historic northwest corridor of charlotte, the area in which the university is situated. communications faculty engage students in research projects, presentations and publications to tell the stories of persons—the elderly, school-aged children, military veterans, and families—living in the northwest corridor and experiencing significant challenges with food deserts and access to reliable technology. communication students develop psas, digital radio content and cinematography to highlight the relevance of these issues and to connect community members to local and regional resources to address these issues.

the university’s sustainability village is a dedicated program for students to immerse themselves in a living-learning environment that incorporates service learning with academic coursework to respond to the voices of residents in the northwest corridor. working inter disciplinarily, sustainability interns and scholars study conservation efforts across the globe to inform their local work with aquaponic gardens and farmers’ markets. study abroad opportunities have included building sustainable villages in haiti and exploring community farming practices in rural african villages. communications students are able to enroll in courses in applied environmental science and sustainable living to complement their primary studies in journalism, visual arts, public advocacy and/or digital communications.