Students, faculty members and staff can shape McMaster’s first university-wide Sustainability Plan by completing a five-minute survey sent to all McMaster email addresses today.
The Sustainability Plan Survey asks questions that will help clarify potential elements of the plan, seeking to understand general awareness of sustainability on campus and involvement in sustainability-themed activities. It is based on the feedback from interviews with 130 McMaster community members, conducted over 89 engagement meetings with student groups, faculty members and staff this summer.
While McMaster’s many teams and departments have shared sustainability plans for their individual areas in the past, this is the first time that feedback from across the university will be reflected in a single plan.
McMaster’s Office of Sustainability is facilitating the development of the plan. Its scope will integrate environmental, social and economic sustainability themes, across many aspects of the university.
Testing of the plan’s themes will also occur with McMaster students, faculty members and staff this fall.
“Developing a sustainability plan via cross-campus collaboration is an institutional priority,” says Debbie Martin, assistant vice-president and chief facilities officer. “By engaging in multiple forms of feedback gathering, we intend that the Sustainability Plan will reflect the collective expectations of our students, faculty members and staff.”
“We welcome feedback from McMaster’s community and invite you to participate in this university-wide survey.”
McMaster will be reporting on the university-wide Sustainability Plan’s progress every year once it is launched, through the university-wide Sustainability Report, which was first published this year.
McMaster will also continue to benchmark sustainability efforts against universities around the globe. In 2021, McMaster ranked 14th globally for impact and 1st in Canada for good health and well-being in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which recognize the contributions of universities as they work to make the world a safer, more sustainable place based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Learn more about the Sustainability Plan Survey on the Office of Sustainability website.