As we get ready for a new school year to begin, I’m excited to see the campus come alive again with the energy of our students. It’s why we are here as a University, and why we are committed to working toward a more sustainable future for everyone.
There’s a lot of challenges around this work now, but the UW is still all-in on sustainability, and we know our community is too. Our office works with people across the UW every day on sustainability efforts, from operational staff to committed faculty to the students who push us to embody our mission and vision. We know we can’t make a difference without all of these collective efforts – in sustainability, as in so many other things, we’re better together.
I’ve been able to see this in action over the past year, especially as we’ve been working on updating the University’s Sustainability Action Plan (SAP). We held events on all three campuses inviting students, faculty and staff to think about their priorities and vision of success for the future when it comes to sustainability at the University of Washington. In addition to these events, our team has reached out to many groups across the UW for listening sessions, provided surveys and had outreach sessions on campus to hear from as many people in the UW community as possible. All of the input gathered from these events has been key to shaping the long-term direction of the new SAP, as well as our interim goals and actions. The latest draft Sustainability Action Plan is available here, and we invite your feedback. We’re continuing to refine the Plan, and we will hold a Fall community meeting with updates, and an opportunity to hear from our campus community on the near-final draft of our goals and actions. Share your feedback via the Community Input Form (UW NetID required).
While the Sustainability Action Plan update and strategic planning process continues to be the priority focus for our Office, we have been busy with many ongoing sustainability efforts as well.
Our Office is grateful for the partnership with many units across Facilities and the tri-campus as implementation begins for projects under UW’s new Green Building Standard. In 2024, UW adopted a revised Green Building Standard which sets strong sustainability requirements for all construction and renovation across all UW owned and operated facilities in Washington State. We have refined and updated documents for a smooth implementation process, and developed new tools and training for the staff working on these critical projects. Our new Green Building Standard workbook serves as both a reporting tool, and the guide for Project Managers and design teams to navigate the new requirements. Finally, the workbook is critical to capture the value added to the University and our community from each of these projects, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, water and energy savings, and much more.
We continue to work on the effort to decarbonize the energy system on the Seattle campus, and in the fall of 2024 a consultant team led by Affiliated Engineers Inc. completed an implementation plan for the Seattle campus Power Plant Energy Renewal.
We are proud to partner with UW Athletics to expand the reusable cup program for a second year of volleyball, basketball and other events at Alaska Airlines Arena. The success of this program hinges on attendees returning your cup in the designated return bin in the Arena, so Remember to Return Your Cup, Huskies! We’re also excited to work with students in our updated Huskies for Equitable Sustainability (HuES) program, which will focus on connecting students with a variety of engagement opportunities, such as volunteering at events to individual and group projects - all of which address a real-world sustainability need across our tri-campus.
We know there are countless other efforts happening across the UW, and we appreciate everyone’s work to advance sustainability. I’m looking forward to making new connections and strengthening existing partnerships during this school year to scale-up UW’s sustainability impact – we are stronger together!