Trends

As prominent institutions of higher education, these 200 schools have resources to become leaders in aligning sustainable campus and endowment practices with their educational missions. Have they made progress in this regard? For the schools that appear in both the 2007 and 2008 editions of the Report Card, the trend is generally positive:

More than two out of three schools (68 percent) improved their overall grade. More schools are taking action on sustainability measures, in part reflecting increasing concern about climate change and the realities of rising oil and gas prices. Overall school grades improved from a "C" average to a "C+" average with 13 percent of schools improving by at least one full letter grade (e.g. from "C-" to "B-"). Visit the Leadership Challenge page to see the list.

Schools are taking on climate change through aggressive carbon reduction commitments. A significant shift occurred in addressing climate change, with the proportion of schools committing to reductions in carbon emissions more than tripling (from 14 to 50 percent). Notably, more than 25 percent of the schools have committed to achieving carbon neutrality in the long term by signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.

Increasing use of local food drives significant grade improvement. The number of schools reporting that they buy at least some food from local farms/producers grew from 63 to 84 percent. The "A" grades in Food & Recycling almost doubled, jumping from 20 to 38 percent.

Green building policies are becoming more widespread. The percentage of schools with green building policies increased from 48 to 69 percent.

Endowment investments in renewable energy funds increased dramatically. The percentage of schools with current endowment investments in renewable energy funds, or similar investment opportunities, more than tripled from 9 to 31 percent. Partly because of these investments, the "A" grades in the Investment Priorities category increased from 13 to 38 percent.

Some schools have lower grades due to assessment of new category and indicators. Roughly 10 percent of schools had a slight decline in their overall grades, but none dropped by a full letter. The reasons for this drop varied, but in most cases reflected the increasing rigor of the evaluation indicators and the addition of the Transportation category.

To find out how these trends are reflected in specific schools, refer to the Snapshot, which provides a list of all 200 schools along with their overall grades. Arrows indicate whether the grade has improved or declined for schools covered in both editions of the Report Card.