Sustainability Action Plan

The University of Washington is in the process of updating our Sustainability Action Plan, which will lay out our goals and priorities and drive future actions.

The UW’s first Sustainability Action Plan was adopted in 2020 with a five-year framework. Now it’s time to look forward and create an ambitious plan to guide our path to a sustainable future. This new plan will set a long-term vision for 2050, while also determining the actions and strategies that will be needed over the next five years.

UW Sustainability invites all members of the UW community to share their visions for a sustainable and equitable future through creative expression by participating in the "Message to the Future" campaign.

The University of Washington recently held two Community Kickoff events to launch the development of an updated Sustainability Action Plan for the UW tri-campus. The events, one in-person and one online, brought together faculty, staff, students, and external partners to help shape UW's sustainability vision for 2050.

UW Sustainability has been working on achieving Target 5 of the UW Sustainability Action Plan: Reducing carbon emissions from air travel five percent by 2025. A working group of faculty, staff and students representing environmental science, political science, public service, procurement, and other departments and disciplines meet regularly to work towards this goal.

The University of Washington adopted its Sustainability Action Plan, including 10 measurable targets, on July 1, 2020. The Plan will guide our sustainability efforts through 2025, with updated actions determined annual to help us work toward those targets.