May 13, 2019
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – Wilfrid Laurier University has been awarded a Gold rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), which measures the sustainability performance of colleges and universities worldwide.

STARS is an Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) program. Laurier’s Gold rating recognizes the university’s successes in categories including academics, campus and community engagement, campus operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership. Laurier is one of only four post-secondary institutions in Ontario to earn a STARS Gold rating.

“Laurier continues to make exciting progress in creating a more sustainable campus and community and we are honoured to receive this recognition for our efforts,” said Stephanie MacPhee, manager of Laurier’s Sustainability Office. “This achievement is a testament to the Laurier community’s commitment to sustainability.”

Laurier has made significant progress since its previous STARS ratings of Bronze in 2010 and Silver in 2013. The university continues to set and meet aggressive sustainability targets, including a commitment to carbon-neutrality by 2050, outlined in its Sustainability Action Plan. In April, Laurier was named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc.

With more than 800 participants in 30 countries, the AASHE STARS program is the most widely recognized framework for publicly reporting information about the sustainability performance of post-secondary institutions. Available on the STARS website, Laurier’s STARS report was a collective effort that involved gathering hundreds of data points from departments and offices across the university.

Notable achievements highlighted in Laurier’s STARS report include:

• A 29 per cent increase in score in the Academics category over Laurier’s 2013 rating.
• Three credits in the Innovation and Leadership category for initiatives including:
  • International Students Overcoming War (ISOW), a student-led and student-funded humanitarian initiative to provide full scholarships to students impacted by conflict.
  • Laurier Professor Manuel Reimer’s five-year project “Closing the performance gap in high-performance green buildings by cultivating a culture of sustainability,” based in Evolv1, a net positive energy multi-tenant office building in Waterloo.
  • Sustainability Through an Inclusive Lens (STIL), a student-led project that makes waste, recycling and compost units accessible for people with vision loss.
• Recognition for exemplary practices, including Laurier’s Fair Trade Campus designation.

Read Laurier’s new Sustainability Action Plan for a comprehensive outline of the university’s sustainability goals.