UW Sustainability Action Plan update

Why are we updating the Sustainability Action Plan?

As we wrap up our current five-year Sustainability Action Plan in 2024-2025, UW is launching the development of a new, ambitious plan to guide our path to a sustainable 2050. This next plan will reflect the needs of our tri-campus community and provide a clear roadmap for UW’s sustainability goals. Key focus areas include: 

• 2050 Visioning: We will collaborate across campuses to shape a long-term vision for 2050 in operations, community partnerships, and academics, which will inform five-year goals and strategies.

• Equity-Centered Approach: Guided by the Race & Equity Initiative and Diversity Blueprint, we will embed equity throughout our planning and implementation efforts. 

• Resource and Funding Needs: The plan will identify what’s required to achieve our sustainability goals. 

• Data-Driven Action: Grounded in the latest science and UW-specific data, the plan will support bold, informed action. 

• Policy Alignment: We will align with state, local, and global frameworks such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and STARS. 

• Storytelling for Impact: Community stories will help bring the plan to life and inspire collective action. 

• Support for Ongoing Work: The plan will highlight and strengthen existing sustainability efforts across UW. 

Anticipated timeline

The new Sustainability Action Plan is being developed through a collaborative process involving faculty, staff, students, experts and the wider UW community. Engagement activities, such as town halls, working groups and focus groups, helped shape a shared vision for the UW’s sustainable future. 

The planning process kicked off in Fall 2024, and has five key phases: 

1. Visioning: Define a collective 2050 sustainability vision through community outreach. 
2. Goal Setting: Translate that vision into measurable goals and strategies. 
3. Plan Drafting: Working groups will draft the Plan. 
4. Community Review: The draft will be refined based on stakeholder feedback. 
5. Final Publication: The updated SAP will be published in fall 2026.

Engagement approach

We believe that creating a truly effective Sustainability Action Plan requires input from our entire UW community. That’s why we've designed a range of engagement strategies to ensure we hear from a broad spectrum of the UW community.

• Visioning Sessions (Fall 2024 – Winter 2025): Targeted sessions were held across the tri-campus to collect bold ideas for UW’s sustainable future, focused on three themes: academics/research, operations, and community partnerships. The outcomes of these sessions are shaping the Plan’s goals and strategies.
• Community Meetings (Fall 2024 – Fall 2026): Throughout the Sustainability Action Plan development process, we will host three open community meetings - at the beginning, middle, and end - free for all to attend. To maximize participation, we will provide both in-person and virtual attendance options for all our meetings.

  • Kickoff Event (Fall 2024): Breakout sessions and presentations to shape the Plan’s direction.

  • Community Briefing (Spring 2025): Progress updates, insights gained from community outreach, key recommendations from our working groups and upcoming milestones.

  • Final Launch (Fall 2026): Presentation of the completed Plan, with next steps for implementation. 

• Working groups (Early 2025): Cross-campus working groups will develop specific goals and actions for key topic areas such as:
  • Academics, Research & Learning
  • Buildings, Energy, & Climate 
  • Commuting & Transportation
  • Procurement & Finance
  • Food Systems
  • Landscapes & Ecological Systems
  • Materials & Waste
  • Community Building & Inclusion

How to participate

Message to the future

The Message to the Future project invited students, staff and faculty across the tri-campus to share their visions for a sustainable and equitable future through creative expression. This was largely through postcards shared with event attendees as well as through outreach tabling on campus. The postcards had the prompt: "What does a sustainable UW look like in 2050?" The messages shared provided a sample of what was important and inspiring to our community. 

Previous events

Community Briefing

On June 6, 2025, UW Sustainability gave a briefing on the current state of the process to develop the new Sustainability Action Plan.

UW Medicine Sustainability Visioning Session

On January 14, 2025, over 70 physicians, nurses, pharmacists, faculty, and staff members from UW Medicine participated in a sustainability visioning session to share their insights and ideas about what a sustainable future could look like for UW Medicine and how we might address the healthcare sector's unique challenges and opportunities.

View the slides from the UW Medicine presentation.

UW Bothell & Tacoma visioning sessions

UW Sustainability hosted a sustainability visioning sessions at UW Bothell & UW Tacoma in the Winter and Spring quarters. These sessions helped the University chart its course toward a sustainable 2050 and is a key step in developing UW’s new tri-campus Sustainability Action Plan, which will provide an actionable roadmap for UW's sustainability goals. Students, faculty, staff, and campus partners shared their ideas, aspirations, and priorities about what a successful sustainable future looks like for their campuses.

Kick-off events

UW Sustainability held in-person and virtual Community Kickoff Events in Fall 2024 for members of the UW community to learn about the process for creating the new Sustainability Action Plan and share their visions for a sustainable UW. We will be using the input from these events to inform the Sustainability Action Plan, ensuring our efforts reflect community values.

You can watch the presentation about the Sustainability Action Plan update process from the virtual event below.

Contact us

Your input is crucial in shaping a sustainable future for the University of Washington. Email sustainabilityplan@uw.edu with questions or feedback on the Sustainability Action Plan.