UBC is among hundreds of leading educational institutions that signed 1990's Talloires Declaration. These institutions pledged to make sustainability the foundation for campus operations, research, and teaching. They're encouraging their faculty, staff, and students to factor ecological, social, and economic consequences into all of their personal and professional decisions.
UBC has led the campus sustainability movement in a variety of ways over the last decade:
1997
UBC became Canada's first university to adopt a sustainable development policy.
1998
A year later, we became the country's first university to open a campus Sustainability Office.
2002
UBC discovered that our more than a dozen unique initiatives, had made UBC Canada's leader in campus sustainability.
2003, 2005 and 2006
UBC was Canada's first and only university to receive Green Campus Recognition from the U.S.-based National Wildlife Federation.
2005
UBC's vision statement adopted sustainability as a core value by including a commitment to "promote the values of a civil and sustainable society".
2006
UBC published Canada's first campus-wide sustainability strategy after a consultation process with 20 departments, all faculties, all major student organizations, and over 100 individuals.
2007
UBC added 21 targets to the initial 68 in the sustainability strategy, representing UBC Okanagan’s commitments. The first progress report against the initial strategy was also published.
2008
UBC President Stephen Toope and five other BC university and college presidents were the first to sign the Climate Change Statement of Action for Canada.