College Sustainability Report Card Measures Up Green Practices on Campus

College campuses across North America are stepping up green practices and policies, with more than two out of three schools showing improved performance over the last year, according to the new College Sustainability Report Card 2008.  Recently featured in The New York Times Magazine, the Report Card is published annually by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a Rockefeller Brothers Fund grantee.  The Report Card is the only independent sustainability evaluation of campus operations and endowment investments.

While schools in the United States and Canada are earning higher marks for green initiatives in campus operations, a majority of the wealthiest institutions continue to lag in applying sustainability practices to their endowment investments. The categories with the lowest overall grades were Shareholder Engagement with 66 percent "Fs" and Endowment Transparency with 58 percent "Fs." In contrast, failing grades averaged only 10 percent across the five campus categories of Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, and Transportation.  The Report Card surveyed the 200 public and private universities with the largest endowments, ranging from $230 million to nearly $35 billion.

Read the New York Times Magazine feature.

Learn more about the College Sustainability Report Card 2008.