In recognition of its sustainability achievements, Virginia Commonwealth University has again earned a STARS Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

STARS – the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System – measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education, including academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership. With more than 1,200 participants in 52 countries, the AASHE program is the most widely recognized framework in the world for publicly reporting comprehensive information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance.

“Achieving STARS Gold is a reflection of the university’s commitment to sustainability. We are grateful for the exceptional work of faculty, staff and students across the institution that has led to this result,” said Meredith Weiss, Ph.D., VCU’s senior vice president for finance and administration and CFO.

The recent reaffirmation of the university’s gold rating comes as VCU begins implementation of the first-ever ONE VCU Sustainability Plan, a new initiative to pursue meaningful and impactful environmental sustainability goals and initiatives at both the university and health system.

“I am grateful that this comprehensive plan is a call on our large community to address environmental and sustainability issues that impact human health, our economy and our natural world,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “As a top-ranked national public research university and health system, we have the ability and responsibility to lead the way in facing these challenges at the local and global level and make sustainability integral to the ONE VCU culture. We are role models for our communities and need to model the best of sustainability.”

The ONE VCU Sustainability Plan is organized into the following three goals – each with strategies, initiatives and measurements of success – that outline actionable, achievable opportunities for the university and health system to weave sustainability into operations, academics, research, innovation and health care:

• Ourselves: Embed sustainability into the ONE VCU culture.
• Our community: Enhance student, patient, workforce and community health and well-being by restoring the natural environment and minimizing VCU’s environmental impact.
• Our world: Inspire innovation in research, education and health care to advance environmental health, human health, health equity and economic vitality.

Development of the ONE VCU Sustainability Plan took place over more than two years and is a result of several collaborative committees and working groups represented by university and health system students, faculty, staff and team members, as well as local community members from a range of backgrounds.

“Internal and external engagement were important to the success of the development of this plan,” said Ann Kildahl, Ph.D. director of sustainability. “Throughout the development process, we engaged with the VCU and VCU Health communities and the Richmond community to understand current sustainability conditions, pinpoint areas of improvement and identify new opportunities.”

Engagement consisted of events and presentations, stakeholder interviews, meetings with community groups and public surveys resulting in over 2,200 responses. The public was also invited to submit suggestions, feedback and questions via email at any time throughout the process. Each piece of feedback was then incorporated into the final ONE VCU Sustainability Plan.

“At VCU, we are fortunate to have a strong foundation of successful sustainability initiatives on which to build, as well as skilled and passionate academics, researchers, innovators, health care professionals, students, staff and community members,” said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “Understanding this unique opportunity, we brought them together with their combined knowledge, expertise and lived experiences to devise a meaningful plan with actionable steps that not only can make an immediate difference, but position VCU as a global leader.”

In addition to the university’s STARS Gold rating, VCU has made significant progress in sustainable operations, research and education, including these implementations:

• The Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment, whose mission is to address the existential threat of climate change by creating sustainable energy systems and ecologies while educating students and working with community partners to meet these challenges.
• Green construction standards leading to 23 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, including the recent LEED Gold certification for the STEM Building. VCU will continue to pursue LEED and Virginia Energy Conservation and Environmental Standards designations in new construction and renovation projects.
• Energy consumption reduction, including initiatives to improve energy efficiency.
• Stormwater runoff reduction, including converting an approximately 4,000-square-foot hillside south of Cary Street Field into an urban meadow with native plantings that will provide habitat for insects and birds.
• Waste reduction, including the composting of food waste from certain campus dining facilities; for each ton of food scraps collected from VCU, the university will receive a 40-pound bag of compost to use in its landscaping.
• Reuse of goods through the VCU Free Store, an on-campus resource for students, faculty and staff that promotes equitable access to everyday items while keeping usable goods out of landfills.
• New Green Labs pilot program designed to support and guide laboratory personnel in integrating sustainability into their daily operations while maintaining the highest standards of research excellence and safety.
• VCU Health System has reduced its medical waste volume and hazardous medication waste volumes, the latter of which earned VCU and VCU Health the Campus Safety Health and Environmental Management Association’s Innovation Award for Research Enhancement for a Large School.
• VCU Health System reprocesses more than 10,000 medical devices, such as pulse oximeters and ECG leads and cables, each month. Also, it recycles more than 1 million pounds of cardboard and paper annually.

"Sustainability is considered a fundamental element of the health system's mission to promote health and well-being,” said Marlon F. Levy, M.D., senior vice president for VCU Health Sciences and CEO of VCU Health System. “In addition to the immense environmental and operational benefits, implementing meaningful sustainability initiatives has the potential to impact patient health and outcomes. For this plan to be successful, everyone has a part to play in incorporating sustainability into our actions, behavior and the ONE VCU culture."

“It is important to keep in mind that the ONE VCU Sustainability Plan is not static,” Kildahl said. “It will shift and evolve over time as new opportunities are uncovered, challenges arise and feedback and suggestions are received.”