Yale University

College Sustainability Report Card 2008

The Office of Sustainability consists of a director, an education and outreach coordinator, and 12 student research assistants during the school year. The Yale Procurement Office website has many resources for the campus community related to green purchasing. Yale is committed to partnering with peer institutions in the region and internationally, and has multiple advisory councils dedicated to sustainability.

Yale has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020—a 43 percent reduction from 2005 levels. Through the Yale Greenhouse Gas Reduction Initiative, student reductions in energy usage are rewarded with the purchase of renewable energy certificates for residential halls. Recently, photovoltaic cells were installed at the Yale Divinity School. The university has committed to reducing energy consumption in the residential colleges by 15 percent by 2008.

The Yale Sustainable Food Project initiated the introduction of local, organic vegetables, fruits, and beef to all residential college dining halls. There are a number of active programs overseen by the recycling department that range from a desk-side recycling program to a comprehensive spring salvage and an electronics collection and recycling service.

The University is making a clear effort toward green building with its University Design Standards, which incorporate principles in line with LEED Silver certification, with an emphasis on energy efficiency. Eleven campus buildings are candidates for LEED design and certification. A campus-wide retrofit of inefficient lightbulbs, windows, HVACs, and other facilities has been put into place as well.

As part of its commitment to the implementation of a campus-wide transportation demand management system, Yale hired a director of sustainable transportation in the spring of 2007. Currently, the Yale shuttle fleet is running on an ultra-low sulfur diesel and 20 percent biodiesel blend. There are seven hybrid vehicles on campus, utilized by several departments including parking and transit and grounds maintenance.

Basic investment information is made available in the annual report. However, the proxy voting record is not publicly accessible.

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.

A committee composed of two students, two alumni, two faculty, and two staff recommends and implements proxy voting that is approved by the corporation. Recommendations on proxy votes are open to the Yale community, as well as to the two student committee members.