Dalhousie University

College Sustainability Report Card 2010

The Office of Sustainability employs one full-time director. The President's Advisory Council on Sustainability passed the Sustainability Policy and Statement of Principles, formalizing the university's commitment to sustainability. Dalhousie recently became an Energy Star partner with the Canadian government.

The university encourages resource conservation through the One Million Acts of Green campaign. Lighting has been retrofitted in many buildings to energy-efficient models and fume hoods have been upgraded. A greenhouse gas inventory is currently underway.

All dining facilities are trayless and run composting programs, and there are more than 100 composting stations elsewhere on campus. The university devotes approximately 40 percent of its annual food budget to the purchase of local foods. All meat and dairy purchased is hormone- and antibiotic-free, and coffee in the dining halls is fair trade–certified. Dining services diverts about 90 percent of recyclable materials from the landfill and there is a program for electronics recycling.

One building on campus was built using green guidelines, and four buildings exceed Canada's Commercial Building Incentive Program standards. Motion sensor technology is in many buildings, and about 30 percent of toilets on campus are low-flow models. Low-flow faucets and showerheads have also been installed. Most construction waste is recycled.

Dalhousie Student Union has its own sustainability office. The student group SustainDal runs water and energy conservation and waste reduction campaigns. Many additional student groups related to environment and sustainability exist on campus. The university's sustainability office employs four to seven student staff throughout the year and involved more than 30 students during the school year in sustainability projects.

The university offers incentives for carpooling, and all full-time students ride for free on local public transportation through the UPass program. Three quarters of the campus population commutes via environmentally preferable means, and bike- and car-sharing programs are being piloted in fall 2009.

The university makes a list of external managers available to the public per open record law. A list of votes cast on proxy resolutions on a company-specific level is available to all members of the school community, including faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

The university aims to optimize investment return and is currently invested in renewable energy funds.

The university provides its investment managers with general guidelines that determine its proxy votes.