2023
Choose to Reuse Reaches 100,000 Uses
The program reaches the 100,000 containers used landmark. Through the end of 2023, the program has a 96% on-time return rate. The University continues to evaluate further campus locations to expand this award-winning program.
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BU Earns STARS Gold
In 2023, BU earned its first STARS Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) in recognition of its sustainability achievements. With more than 1,200 participants in 52 countries, AASHE’s STARS program is the most widely recognized framework for publicly reporting comprehensive information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance.
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BU Installs 1.1 Million kWh of Solar
Boston University installed solar arrays on four sites, the Track and Tennis Center, Booth Theater, administrative offices at 25 Buick Street, and Kilachand Hall, which were identified through a solar feasibility study. The University will continue to utilize this study, which covers over 80 buildings across the three campuses, to identify potential new projects for solar power generation. This first installation generates 1.1 million kWh of renewable energy for the University.
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CCDS Receives LEED Platinum
LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a globally recognized symbol of excellence in green building design and construction. In its first year, CCDS receives LEED© Platinum, the highest rating possible, through the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) rating system.
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Earth Day 365 Launches
In 2023, BU Sustainability transitioned from hosting an Earth Day Festival to Earth Day 365, a series of events and programs highlighting the importance of protecting our planet every day. The initial series included over 35 events across all three campuses, hosted by over 20 groups, including student organizations, departments, and campus initiatives.
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Choose to Reuse Program Launches
Boston University dining launches Choose to Reuse, a nationally leading program for reducing single-use food container waste. Community members are able to order food on reusables via Grubhub, the University’s contracted point-of-sale vendor. The program aligns with BU’s Zero Waste Plan, which aims to divert 90 percent of BU’s waste from incineration or landfills by 2030.
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The Opening of the Center for Computing & Data Sciences
After a decade of planning, design, and construction, the Boston University community is welcomed to the Center for Computing & Data Sciences for the first day of classes in January 2023. To date, the building stands as the largest fossil fuel-free, carbon-neutral building in Boston.
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2022
The Institute for Global Sustainability
Boston University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy was relaunched as the Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS). With this renaming, the scope of IGS expands from focusing on renewable energy to advancing a sustainable and equitable future for all, with a focus on planetary and environmental health, climate governance, and energy grounded in equity and justice, robust data analysis, and real-world impact.
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2021
BU Commits to Full Divestment from Fossil Fuels
Due to rapid acceleration of anthropogenic climate change, as well as continued pressure from DivestBU, the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI) recommends completely phasing out investments in companies that extract oil and natural gas. The Board of Trustees votes in favor of adopting a plan to divest its endowment from remaining fossil fuel interests.
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Electric Vehicle Fleet Deployment
As part of the University’s commitment to sustainability, departments are transitioning to electric vehicles. As departments request replacement or new vehicles, electric models are given priority.
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2020
BU Faculty Gather to Focus on Sustainability Curriculum
Faculty members Cutler Cleveland (Earth & Environment), Emily Ryan (Mechanical Engineering), and Neta Crawford (Political Science) convene a workshop to explore ways to incorporate energy, climate change, and sustainability into every student’s education. One such solution is the team projects within the BU Hub’s Cross-College Challenge, which present an additional opportunity for interdisciplinary groups of students to work on solutions to sustainability issues.
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Campus Climate Lab Launches
The Campus Climate Lab enables researchers to use BU's campuses as a living laboratory to advance sustainability practices, by funding student research projects and facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration among students, staff, and faculty.
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Anthony Janetos Climate Action Prize Established
Named in honor of the late Professor Tony Janetos, director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, the prize is awarded each spring to the Campus Climate Lab student or team whose project most substantially advances Climate Action Plan goals and helps shift the University toward more sustainable operations.
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Resident Sustainability Leader Program Comes to West Campus
Our vital peer educator program now covers more of BU's Charles River Campus. Resident Sustainability Leaders make a year-long commitment to promote sustainability in student housing and provide support to residents on sustainability subjects ranging from recycling to energy, water, waste, and more. Principally part of the BU Sustainability team, Resident Sustainability Leaders are also part of the Residence Life team and promote a positive and healthy environment where students can live, learn, and thrive.
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BU joins MassEVolves
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs and the Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) recognizes BU as a participant in its MassEVolves Program, in support of the transition to zero-emission vehicles for operations, employees, and communities. The University has committed to transition its fleet to electric, with a pilot in FY2022.
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BU Wind Goes Live!
Boston University begins 15-year Power Purchase Agreement which involves buying 205,000 megawatt hours of electricity annually from wind farm developer, builder, and operator ENGIE North America. BU Wind is a clean energy project in South Dakota that the University enabled, fulfilling a key goal of the University’s Climate Action Plan (CAP).
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2019
Boosting Innovation with New Sustainability Seed Grant
A collaboration between Sustainability and Innovate@BU, the Sustainability Innovation Seed Grant program provides students with the funds they need to turn their sustainability project ideas into reality.
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BU Convenes Zero Waste Task Force
The Climate Action Plan recommends that the University establish a Zero Waste goal (90% of our waste would be diverted away from landfills and incineration, including 90% of construction waste). To determine how best to achieve this goal, BU formed the Zero Waste Implementation Task Force and engaged with the campus community, including more than 400 online survey respondents and over 100 campus forum participants.
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Breaking Ground with the Center for Computing & Data Sciences
Construction officially begins on the Center for Computing & Data Sciences, a leading example for how buildings can be designed and built to operate without a carbon footprint. Energy-efficient design is a necessary first step. Then, fossil fuel–free energy will be provided using the thermal mass of the Earth as a source for heat exchange. This will enable the building's electricity to be matched by the energy from BU Wind and be carbon free. This forward-looking project will be Boston University’s most sustainable building yet and demonstrates our leadership on climate action.
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2018
BU Wind Project Unveiled
BU will buy the power from a South Dakota wind farm that will begin construction in the spring. It will then resell that power for use in the midwestern United States. By purchasing power outside New England, the University will earn legal credits (called renewable energy certificates) against its own carbon emissions in Boston.
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BU Joins Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council
The Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council brings together buyers, suppliers, and public interest advocates to simplify and standardize sustainable purchasing efforts by large organizations, for the benefit of communities, economies, and environments all along local and global supply chains.
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2017
Climate Action Task Force Solicits Input from the Campus Community
The Climate Action Task Force conducts listening sessions and public forums on the Charles River and Medical Campuses.
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Trustees Approve Climate Action Plan
The Boston University Board of Trustees approve a Climate Action Plan that will dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions across BU's campuses and fund broad infrastructure improvements in preparation for flooding or heat surges in the coming decades. The plan’s centerpiece is the reduction of carbon emissions on the campuses to zero by 2040, a decade ahead of a similar effort by the city of Boston.
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2016
Earth House Living-Learning Community Founded
The Earth House, a specialty community at BU for decades, in 2016 became a first-of-its-kind experiential Living-Learning Community, integrating credit-based coursework with residential living.
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ACSRI Proposes Creation of a Climate Action Plan
The Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI) presents recommendations to enhance the University's sustainable initiatives. Recommendations include developing a Climate Action Plan and divesting from companies that continue to explore new fossil fuel reserves or that extract coal and tar sands.
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Climate Action Task Force Kick Off
The Climate Action Plan Task Force holds its first meeting and begins the difficult work of developing a plan to mitigate the effect of climate change on BU's campuses as well the impact of University operations on the environment at large.
2014
Faculty Petition in Support of Divestment
Together with the DivestBU student movement, 245 faculty members sign a petition urging the University’s trustees and the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI) to divest fossil fuel interests from its endowment.
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2012
Board of Trustees Approves Formation of Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing
The committee's mandate is to represent all of the BU community (trustees, faculty, and students); offer expertise in socially responsible investing issues in order to be able to engage in informed, thoughtful, and collegial consideration and discussion; and maintain continuity and institutional memory on relevant policy issues. As such, they will advise the Board of Trustees on socially responsible investing and coordinate and facilitate communication related to policy issues.
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BU Installs Its First Green Roof at 100 Bay State Road
Spanning nearly 6,000 square feet, the roof at the Yawkey Center for Student Services is designed to become a lush bed of vegetation, helping to decrease the building’s carbon footprint. Green roofs reduce the heat island effect created by black roofs, improve insulation—lowering heating and cooling bills—and increase rainwater retention, which captures runoff that can overwhelm sewer systems.
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DivestBU Formed
Students organize to encourage the University to divest from fossil fuel interests. DivestBU goes on to engage students in petitions, rallies, and formal proposals to the administration.
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2011
First BU Residence Earns LEED Certification
The apartment complex at 85–87 St. Mary’s St. is the first BU residence to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, a program created and administered by the US Green Building Council. The residential complex—a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments comprising nine units total— was stripped to the rafters, studs, and floorboards, and methodically rebuilt.
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2010
BU Celebrates with Inaugural Sustainability Festival
The event to promote eco-friendly lifestyles and environmental education features vendors, student environmental clubs, and BU departments and offices. Hosted by BU Sustainability, the festival includes educational games, sustainability swag, information booths, and of course, plenty of free food.
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2009
A New Day: BU Sustainability (Originally Known as sustainability@BU) Is Born
University leaders hire BU’s first director of sustainability, Dennis Carlberg, an architect and a former senior designer and project manager. Carlberg oversees the BU Sustainability Committee made up of faculty members, staff, and students. The committee works to reduce energy consumption and waste across campus by concentrating on four crucial areas: recycling and waste management; energy efficiency; sustainable building development and operations; and communications, education, and outreach.
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Sargent's Makechnie Study Center First LEED-Certified Project on Charles River Campus
The upgraded center features new computers and printers surrounded by glass-walled group study rooms, a conference room, and a digital editing suite, all flooded with natural light. The space became the first on the Charles River Campus to earn LEED certification for environmentally friendly building from the US Green Building Council (USGBC).
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BU Holds First Earth Day Festival
Designed to celebrate our planet and focus on how members of the BU community can have a positive impact on the environment, BU's Earth Day Festival brings together local businesses, nonprofits, various BU departments, student organizations, and more to take part in interactive and fun activities promoting sustainability.
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Sustainability Liaisons Founded
The program was created to promote campus sustainability through peer-to-peer awareness within each of the schools and colleges as well as many administrative departments on our campuses. The liaisons are comprised of faculty, staff, and graduate students.
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2008
President Robert A. Brown Announces New University-Wide Sustainability Office
President Brown announced the formation of a new group that will adminster the University's sustainability program. The program is broad in scope and aims to reduce the University’s environmental footprint by affecting change on campus and integrating sustainability into existing programs in education, research, and operations.
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