��������

The influence of universities and colleges on the reduction of carbon emissions around the world has the potential to be significant.

“Higher education institutions have the power to redesign the future,” said U.K. High-Level Climate Action Champion when speaking at the 2024 Times Higher Education Climate Impact Forum. “Not only are universities, colleges and schools committing to ambitious decarbonization plans; these institutions also have the capacity — and indeed the responsibility — to support and educate our leaders of tomorrow.”

High level engagement of the world’s universities and colleges is very evident.

The shows some 1,193 universities representing over 10 million students are now part of the Race to Zero campaign. Nearly all have a net-zero emissions target and nearly half have a published transition plan.

Several global rating systems rank the net-zero progress of post-secondary schools. Canadian institutions are consistently ranked among the leaders.

In the by the international Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (), five Canadian universities are in the top 12 among 360 institutions across 15 countries: McGill University, Université Laval, University of Victoria, Thompson Rivers University and the Université de Sherbrooke.

The Université de Sherbrooke has reduced water consumption by 78 per cent on the main campus since 2000.

In 2022-2023, Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) were reduced by 4,055 tonnes or 77 per cent. This has occurred alongside an enrolment increase of 60 per cent to 40,000 students and a real estate expansion of 50 per cent to 80 buildings spread across three sites.

At its main campus, a solar park provides approximately 15 per cent of the electricity consumed. All new construction projects are designed to be carbon neutral, thanks to geothermal energy systems among other measures.

At the main campus, heating and cooling are managed from an operations centre.

“Here, nothing is lost, nothing is created,” operator Martin Côté told . He explained the system works effectively due to a 3.5 kilometre network of conduits under the campus that recovers excess heat from one place and sends it to other buildings.

Patrice Cordeau, associate vice-rector for sustainable development, says the Université de Sherbrooke is one of the rare universities in the world to be carbon neutral.

These five universities are not the only Canadian post-secondary institutions taking major steps towards emission reductions.

The University of Toronto (U of T) has several initiatives in the planning stages, underway and completed.

U of T has committed to an ambitious low-carbon action plan that aims to reduce GHG emissions by 37 per cent and to be climate positive by 2050 across its three campuses. The program is reportedly already ahead of schedule.

The initiative starts with the university’s efforts to decarbonize its 196-year-old St. George campus in the heart of downtown Toronto, headlined by the .

Diving as deep as 200 metres underground, the Landmark Project will be Canada’s largest urban geo-exchange system. It is expected to modulate the temperature of existing buildings around the campus, while reducing the release of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere by 15,000 tonnes per year. 

Meanwhile, the U of T Mississauga campus has a high-tech geothermal system beside its Instructional Centre and is actively expanding the use of solar energy across its buildings.

To the east of the city, U of T Scarborough opened Harmony House in 2023, a   for first-year students that meets Passivhaus standards.

The Scarborough campus is also proposing to build Canada’s first net-zero vertical farm at the heart of EaRTH, the . This hub will a green and sustainable technology sector through research, academic programming and commercialization of advanced technology.

“The higher education system oversees significant resources in human and financial capital, and how they deploy it can have a real impact on the planet,” Susan Gardner, director of the ecosystems division at United Nations Environment Programme.

John Bleasby is a freelance writer. Send comments and Climate and ��������ion column ideas to editor@dailycommercialnews.com.