Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 53.85
Liaison Stephen Ellis
Submission Date Oct. 7, 2021

STARS v2.2

Boston University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Dennis Carlberg
Associate Vice President for Sustainability
BU Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

1st Partnership 

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
Boston Green Ribbon Commission

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? :
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe?:
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership?:
Sustainability-focused

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? :
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability:
The Boston Green Ribbon Commission is a group of 36 business, institutional, and civic leaders in Boston working to develop shared strategies for fighting climate change in coordination with the City’s Climate Action Plan. President Brown is a member and active participant. Over the last decade, the GRC has made critical contributions to the development of the City of Boston’s climate strategy. Climate Ready Boston, which the GRC initiated and championed, is now leading to direct investment in resilience projects and regulations to guide future development. The Commission’s Carbon Free Boston report lead by the Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy is helping to shape the city’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with a strong emphasis on ways to achieve equitable outcomes for socially vulnerable populations in Boston.

BU’s associate vice president for sustainability co-chairs the Higher Education Working Group. The mission of the GRC HEWG is to leverage the higher education sector’s capabilities for climate action by sharing knowledge and fostering collaboration within and across sectors for the City of Boston to meet its climate goals. The GRC HEWG is organized with three task forces: Task Force 1) support climate action planning and implementation across the higher education sector, Task Force 2) facilitate collaborative research that leverages the higher education sector's capabilities to promote solutions for equitable climate resilience and mitigation in the greater Boston area, and Task Force 3) transfer knowledge to other sectors to accelerate change for equitable implementation of climate mitigation and resilience. BU’s sustainability director co-chairs Task Force 1, the director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy participates on Task Force 2, and the associate vice president for sustainability participates in Task Force 3.

http://www.greenribboncommission.org/people/members/
http://www.greenribboncommission.org/work/higher-education-working-group/
https://www.greenribboncommission.org/work/carbon-free-boston/

2nd Partnership

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
BU/Boston Properties (BXP) Best Practices

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (2nd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (2nd partnership):
Short-term project or event

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (2nd partnership):
Sustainability-focused

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? (2nd partnership):
No

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
In fall 2019, BU hosted BXP for our annual best practices workshop. Local thought leaders BR+A, Arup, and The Green Engineer were invited to share emerging strategies being implemented in high-performance building design. Senior leadership from BU and BXP attended the Chatham House Rules workshop.

3rd Partnership 

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
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Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (3rd partnership):
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Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (3rd partnership):
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Which of the following best describes the partnership? (3rd partnership):
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Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners? (3rd partnership):
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A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
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Optional Fields 

A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:
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Website URL where information about the institution’s community partnerships to advance sustainability is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This represents FY2020 BU Metrics.

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.