University of Toronto

College Sustainability Report Card 2008

The University of Toronto has committed to integrating energy conservation into all of its activities and capital projects. The university’s sustainability office has a long list of projects, and has integrated the student work-study program, as well as numerous course projects and student internships, into the office infrastructure in order to increase an already burgeoning staff.

A carbon emissions inventory has been completed, and a campus energy plan with emissions reduction targets is being developed. There are solar arrays installed on the Mississauga campus, and groups are researching the feasibility of installing wind power on the St. George campus. A solar audit of that campus is underway with the hope that a solar hot water project will be implemented in the next year.

The university is partners with Local Flavour Plus, a nonprofit organization that certifies local farmers and links them with purchasers. Dining services is currently putting a plan in place to offer as many sustainable and organic items as possible. Food waste from the dining hall is composted. The St. George campus boasts a diversion rate of nearly 60 percent and intends to increase this rate to 70 percent by 2012.

The university is in the process of drafting a new building policy that mandates more sustainable design features, and the new budget model gives strong incentive to invest in resource-efficient design. The Mississauga campus’s new McCallion Library is LEED Silver–certified. The Scarborough and St. George campuses have begun incorporating LEED standards into their construction projects as well.

The Mississauga campus has completed, and the St. George campus is developing, a transportation demand management plan involving public transit and carpooling. Bikechain, a student-run educational bike repair, maintenance, and active transportation promotion center, was given an annual operating budget of $20,000. The St. George campus is involved in a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle pilot project.

The university makes its proxy voting records and a list of endowment holdings available to all members of the school community, including faculty, staff, students, and alumni. It is available to the public on the website of the university’s investment management subsidiary, UTAM.

The university aims to optimize investment return and has not made any public statements about investigating or investing in renewable energy funds or community development loan funds. However, investment managers may explore these options if a fund fits their mandate.

The university asks that its investment managers handle the details of proxy voting.