AASHE’s Sustainable Campus Index highlights top scorers’ high-impact green initiatives in 17 areas
September 8, 2022 – The Sustainable Campus Index (SCI), an annual publication by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). The report also highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from institutions that submitted STARS reports in the most recent calendar year.
The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. AASHE developed STARS with broad participation from the higher education community. The credits in STARS span the breadth of higher education sustainability and are organized into four categories: Academics, Engagement, Operations, and Planning & Administration. All reports are publicly accessible on the STARS website.
This year’s Sustainable Campus Index introduces an International Top Performers list that recognizes the top scoring institution in every country with at least one STARS-rated institution. The top three International Top Performers are:
- University of California, Irvine (U.S.)
- Université de Sherbrooke (Canada)
- National Taiwan Normal University (Taiwan)
Institutions that achieved the top spot overall according to institution type include:
- Associate Colleges – Dawson College
- Baccalaureate Institutions – Dickinson College
- Master’s Institutions – California State University, Chico
- Doctoral Institutions – University of California, Irvine
With participation from institutions outside of North America on the rise, we’re excited to begin featuring an International Top Performers list in this year’s publication. In addition to recognizing these trailblazing institutions, we celebrate the accomplishments of every institution demonstrating their leadership and commitment by participating in STARS.
AASHE’s Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser
The Sustainable Campus Index also includes Top Performer lists in 17 impact areas and highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from institutions that submitted STARS reports in the most recent calendar year. The full list of Top Performers is provided in the Index.