Sustainable Campus

Western is a university of the environment. Sustainability is at the heart of what we do here. Our College of the Environment was innovative at its birth in 1969, and today those ideals have spread to every corner of campus.

A few examples:

• Western joined more than 180 other university presidents, 125 mayors, nine governors and almost 1,000 businesses in signing the Grand Coalition Statement on the Paris Agreement.
• Western's Sustainability Engagement Institute houses a variety of programs that promote sustainability and reduce Western's environmental impact.
• In 2017 Western released its Sustainability Action Plan, which will serve as the university’s roadmap for protecting local and global ecology, upholding social equity, creating economic vitality, and maintaining human health.
• We’ve been purchasing 100 percent renewable energy since students voted in 2004 to pay a yearly fee for the program.
• We offer several sustainability and energy degree programs  and have a dedicated Institute for Energy Studies.
• In 1971, a small group of Western students started one of the first campus recycling programs in the country. Today, the AS Recycle Center diverts upwards of 4,000 pounds of recyclable material daily.