Sustainability

The University explores and exemplifies all aspects of economic, environmental, and social sustainability.

We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.
David Brower

UBC recognizes that to meet society’s needs without compromising those of future generations requires the best efforts of the brightest minds in every field—ecological, economic, and social.

Already a global sustainability leader, the University builds its international reputation by taking the lead at home: in Vancouver and the Okanagan, UBC links academic, research, and operational sustainability to become a living laboratory.

Prudent with financial resources and mindful of its mandate to society, UBC supports those initiatives that will ensure the long-term resilience of the University and its ability to serve for generations to come.

The University creates cost-neutral ways to include sustainability teaching and learning in and across all disciplines, and encourages students, staff, and faculty to carry daily sustainability practices out beyond the gates.

In class, in campus plans, in community development, and in partnerships both local and global, UBC exemplifies the hope that we can leave behind us a world worthy of our children.

Ensure UBC economic sustainability by aligning resources with the University vision and strategic plan and deploy them in a sustainable and effective manner.

• Implement a budgeting framework that allocates resources based on strategic goals, including enrolment, with accounting simplification to improve financial control.
• Deliver a balanced budget annually, through active revenue management and a constant search for effectiveness and efficiencies.
• Provide a solid financial foundation for long-term success through land revenues, asset management, and the launching of a significant fundraising campaign.

Make UBC a living laboratory in environmental sustainability by combining its sustainability leadership in teaching, research, and operations.

• Establish a widely shared baseline of the UBC carbon footprint, moving towards carbon neutrality in our operations.
• Integrate the University’s physical operations with its research and teaching mandate as a living laboratory.

Foster social sustainability through teaching, research,  and community engagement that promote vibrant human interaction and community cohesion.

• Work with the AMS to build a new student union building that will serve as a dynamic centre for student life.
• Work with community based organizations to create a deeper understanding of how social sustainability can be achieved locally and globally.

Create a vibrant and sustainable community supported by exemplary governance.

• Strengthen community governance to further take up UBC’s lead in sustainability initiatives.
• Develop and implement campus and community plans that promote pedestrian friendly campuses with an integrated transportation infrastructure and a lively public realm.