| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 66.56 |
| Liaison | David Blodgett |
| Submission Date | March 13, 2015 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Babson College
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Asheen
Phansey Director of Sustainability President's Office |
Does the institution have at least one sustainability committee, office, and/or officer that focuses on sustainability broadly and covers the entire institution?:
A brief description of the activities and substantive accomplishments of the committee(s), office(s), and/or officer(s) during the previous three years:
In the past three years, the Sustainability Office and the Sustainability Leadership Team have:
-Launched food waste diversion on campus
-Installed water bottle filling stations
-Installed EV charging stations
-Implemented Zero Waste events framework
-Worked with faculty to integrate sustainability into the curriculum
-Installed energy-efficient equipment on campus
-Supported the development of LEED construction
-Supported the expansion of the community garden
-Improved the branding and communication of sustainability on campus
-Worked to create a culture of sustainability on campus
Does the institution have at least one sustainability committee?:
The charter or mission statement of the committee(s) or a brief description of each committee's purview and activities:
The Babson Sustainability Leadership Team
Mission Statement:
The mission of the Babson Sustainability Leadership Team is to coordinate efforts to realize Babson’s Sustainability commitments to embrace the concepts of Social, Environmental, Economic Responsibility and Sustainability (SEERS) and Entrepreneurial Thought and Action (ET&A), which includes reducing its carbon footprint to zero over time. This team will instill the inclination to act by increasing sustainability awareness and understanding on campus to every student, faculty, and staff member. This team will advocate the consideration of sustainability as a factor in all institutional decisions as well as identify areas for sustainability action and provide suggestions to achieve key sustainability goals.
Description of Leadership Team's Purview and Activities -
Resource sustainability is critically important to Babson College, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the nation. Efficient energy use is central to this objective, and renewable energy and energy-conservation efforts provide a means to save money, foster environmental awareness, reduce the environmental consequences of College activities, and provide educational leadership for the 21st century.
The College is committed to stewardship of the environment and to reducing the College’s dependence on non-renewable energy sources. With this commitment in mind, we will regularly review initiatives and best practices and share successes by augmenting the existing College guidelines. These guidelines currently recommend that College operations:
• Incorporate the principals of energy efficiency and sustainability in all capital projects, renovation projects, and operations and maintenance within budgetary constraints and programmatic requirements.
• Minimize the use of non-renewable energy sources on behalf of the College’s built environment by creating a portfolio approach to energy use, including the use of local renewable energy and purchase of green power from the grid as well as conservation measures that reduce energy consumption.
• Incorporate alternative means of transportation to/from and within the campus to improve the quality of life on campus and in the surrounding community. The College will continue its strong commitment to provide affordable on-campus housing, in order to reduce the volume of commutes to and from campus.
• Track, report and minimize greenhouse gas emissions on behalf of College operations.
• Minimize the amount of College generated waste sent to landfill.
• Utilize the College’s purchasing power to meet its sustainability objectives.
The Office of the Vice President for Administration will annually report to the Cabinet on the Policy’s impact on capital and operating costs, and overall campus sustainable practices.
This BSSC’s goal is to help align the Babson community with the principles of sustainability. These include:
• Encouraging the content of learning to reflect interdisciplinary systems thinking with a special emphasis on social, ethical and environmental consideration as they relate to entrepreneurial business development and management approaches
• Adjusting the content of learning to make human environment interdependence, values and ethics a seamless and central part of the teaching discipline
• Encouraging the process of education to emphasize active, experiential, inquiry-based learning and real world problem solving on the campus and in the larger community with emphasis on the growing “Clean Tech” areas of business development
• Encouraging the practice of sustainability on the campus as an integral part of operations, planning, facility design, purchasing, and investments and tie these efforts to the formal curriculum
• Forming partnerships with local and regional communities to help make them healthy, socially vibrant, economically secure, and environmentally sustainable as an integral part of Babson’s mission and the student experience.
Vision Statement
Babson College aspires to work towards a sustainable campus life which protects and enhances the environment and health of the staff and students. The College strives to become a leader in environmental sustainability by educating our students, employees and neighboring community. Through an integrated approach, which incorporates economic, human and ecological health and viability, we will support Babson’s mission today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Mission
Babson College is committed to minimizing the College’s impact on the environment and reducing the College’s dependence on non-renewable energy. This Committee is charged with establishing guidelines for the College’s Sustainable Practices including: Green Building Design; Green Building Renovations; Climate Protection Practices; Clean Energy Standards; Sustainable Transportation Practices; Sustainable Operations; Recycling and Waste Management; and Environmentally Preferable Procurement. Since Babson signed the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) this Committee will develop recommended steps to achieve the goals of this program. The above will include plans to:
• Efficiently use and conserve water, energy and other resources
• Implement ecological transportation alternatives
• Develop environmentally responsible purchasing practices
• Develop healthy indoor air quality systems
• Minimize solid waste production
• Incorporate life cycle impact into sustainable financial planning and budget goals
• Integrate entrepreneurial environmental literacy into research, education and communications
• Promote environmentally responsible principles for faculty, staff and student behavior
• Implement resource-efficient site planning, design and building/renovation principles
• Require environmentally sound practices for hazardous materials handling
• Conduct/promote activities among departments and operations in an integrated, interdependent manner.
Babson Sustainability Leadership Group Membership
Two members of the Babson Faculty who have specific interest in the area of sustainability
Representative from Provosts Office
Vice President for Campus & Community Affairs
Vice President for Human Resources
Associate Vice President for Facilities
Assistant Director Grounds, Building Services and Sustainability
Sustainability Coordinator
Sustainability Director
Specific responsibilities are coordinated in the following areas:
1. Facilities Management and Planning - handling areas of energy conservation, water conservation, indoor air quality, hazardous waste, recycling etc.
2. Dining Services - handling areas of use of local and organic food products and reduction of waste in dining operations
3. Purchasing - handling selection and specification of sustainable products and life cycle costing
4. Transportation - handling ways to improve transportation services and alternatives to reduce carbon footprint (HR and Public Safety)
5. Marketing - handling ways to communicate with the campus and community on sustainability efforts and programs.
Members of each committee, including affiliations and role (e.g. staff, student, or faculty):
Mary Rose, VP for Campus & Community Affairs
Donna Bonaparte, VP for Human Resources
Vikki Rodgers, Faculty
Steve Tolley, Asst Dir, Grounds, Bldg & Sustainability
Dallase Scott, Sustainability Director
Alex Davis, Sustainability Program Coordinator
Aaron Ladd, Facilities Coordinator
Rachel Greenberger, Director of FoodSol
Hannah Esberg, Student
The website URL where information about the sustainability committee(s) is available:
Does the institution have at least one sustainability office that includes more than 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) employee?:
A brief description of each sustainability office:
The Babson Sustainability Office is located prominently in the student center, and it serves as the nexus of sustainability on campus.
The mission of the Babson Sustainability Office is to coordinate and expand campus sustainability-related initiatives, to make palpable progress towards Babson's sustainability goals, and to engage and excite the Babson community around sustainability through effective communication and coordination.
The office runs the following programs:
• Babson Eco Reps
• From Day One Fest
In addition, the Sustainability team coordinates and implements several sustainability related campaigns each year.
Full-time equivalent (FTE) of people employed in the sustainability office(s):
The website URL where information about the sustainability office(s) is available:
Does the institution have at least one sustainability officer?:
Name and title of each sustainability officer:
A brief description of each sustainability officer position:
The Sustainability Director leads in the following functions:
• Connects sustainability activities and programs around campus into a unified program
• Communicates internally about sustainability activities on campus
• Helps students, staff and faculty develop and deploy sustainability projects and programs around campus
• Tracks progress
The website URL where information about the sustainability officer(s) is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.