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Fleming College recognized among the best in North America for sustainability efforts

Published

Peterborough ON – (September 18, 2019) Fleming College has been recognized as a top performer in the 2019 Sustainable Campus Index in the Overall Top Performer section. A publication from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the Sustainable Campus Index highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from colleges and universities that submitted a Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) report in the most recent calendar year. 

“Fleming College’s feature in this report demonstrates our continued commitment to sustainability across all areas of the College,” said Trish O’Connor, Director of Sustainability. “We are committed to reducing our ecological footprint, contributing to the solutions for global problems and creating a culture of sustainability. We will continue to embed sustainability across all curriculum and plan to reduce our campus carbon footprint so that we may continue to be a leader in sustainability.”   

AASHE has recognized Fleming as fifth overall in the college category. The index highlights top-performing sustainable colleges and universities overall and in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by STARS.

“We are happy to highlight Fleming College in this year’s Sustainable Campus Index,” said AASHE’s Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser. “We hope that the stories contained in this year’s report will provide inspiration and ideas for other institutions to promote a more equitable and ecologically healthy future.”

Each year, the Office of Sustainability at Fleming College prepares action plans to implement sustainable efforts across all campuses. This year, Fleming College has completed a draft version of the 2019-2022 Sustainability and Climate Action Plan. The plan sets a roadmap for the College’s next three years in supporting the 17 Sustainable Development goals while achieving carbon and waste reduction targets. Fleming has a long history of sustainability initiatives, from encouraging cycling to work, to banning bottled water on campus, to our best-in-class applied research in water technology.

The 2019 Sustainable Campus Index is publicly available on the AASHE website: https://www.aashe.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/SCI-2019.pdf

About Fleming College
Located in the heart of Central Ontario, Fleming College has campus locations in Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg and Haliburton. Named for famous Canadian inventor and engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, the college features more than 100 full-time programs in Arts and Heritage, Business, Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, General Arts and Sciences, Health and Wellness, Justice and Community Development, Skilled Trades and Technology, and Continuing Education. Fleming College has more than 6,800 full-time and 10,000 part-time students, and 75,000 alumni.

About STARS

The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS was developed by AASHE with broad participation from the higher education community. The credits included in STARS span the breadth of higher education sustainability and are organized into four categories: Academics, Engagement, Operations, and Planning & Administration. All reports are publicly accessible on the STARS website. For more information, visit stars.aashe.org.

About AASHE

AASHE empowers higher education faculty, staff and students to be effective change agents and drivers of sustainability innovation. AASHE enables members to translate information into action by offering essential resources and professional development to a diverse, engaged community of sustainability leaders. We work with and for higher education to ensure that our world’s future leaders are motivated and equipped to solve sustainability challenges. For more information, visit www.aashe.org.  

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Media, for more information please contact:

Sara O’Halloran

Communications Officer 

sara.ohalloran@flemingcollege.ca

705.749.5530 x 1366