Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 71.07
Liaison Julien-Pierre Lacombe
Submission Date March 4, 2022

STARS v2.2

École de Technologie Supérieure
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Julien-Pierre Lacombe
Mr
Sustainable office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

Name of the campaign:
ÉTS, the first carbon-neutral university in Montreal!

A brief description of the campaign:
As part of its strategy to achieve carbon neutrality, ÉTS has deployed various awareness campaigns and mobilized its community since 2019, culminating in the announcement of carbon neutrality and the L'ÉTS, first carbon neutral university in Montreal campaign:
-March 14, 2019: Conference named environmental panel where ÉTS and the student group Tributerre announced two commitments in response to the demands of the movement La Planète s'invite à l'université (keeping a complete carbon balance and divesting in fossil fuels) (https://www.etsmtl.ca/nouvelles/2019/panelenvironnementalets/). The conference also saw the launch of a major campaign to solicit the HTA community to sign the Transition Pact (https://www.lepacte.ca/). The latter asked signatories to commit, immediately and for the next two years, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by taking concrete actions in various categories (oil, food, ecological footprint, consumption, civic engagement, etc.). Then, from April 2 to 4, ÉTS and Tributerre organized a big signature blitz to invite students, professors and employees of the School to learn about the Pact and to commit to signing it, like the 265,000 people who had already done so.
-September 24, 2019: Climate Emergency Declaration (Race to Zero for universities) signing event. ETS students, staff, and faculty were asked to physically show up to show their support and commitment to their institution as it would make three important commitments, including becoming carbon neutral by 2030. https://www.etsmtl.ca/nouvelles/2019/signature-declaration/
-September 27, 2019: ÉTS and Tributerre organize a mass departure bringing together more than 400 members of the ÉTS community to join the great global march for the climate that gathered 500,000 people in the streets of Montreal and culminated with a speech by Greta Thunberg.
-June to November 2021: Deployment of the campaign L'ÉTS, the first carbon-neutral university in Montreal. ÉTS announces that it is becoming the first carbon-neutral university in Montreal (Scopes 1 and 2) and deploys a vast communication campaign aimed at raising awareness, creating love and getting people to act. Various strategies, tools and means of communication are being implemented. Among these, an animated video explaining the process was published and widely distributed to the various stakeholders of ÉTS and to several external players. Articles are published in internal and external media. A collaboration with a specialized media is organized: https://novae.ca/lets-premiere-universite-montrealaise-a-atteindre-la-carboneutralite/. Advertising was purchased in the Quebec media. Finally, a major event to highlight the expertise and actions of the ÉTS community in the reduction of GHGs is organized on November 25, 2021. The Director General, professors, students and employees acted as speakers to explain their respective contributions to GHG reduction in the areas of research, campus energy performance and student clubs. The event gathered 115 people (face-to-face + virtual), was recorded and is available on the ÉTS Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNjS_HIeslE.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
Over 200 members of the ÉTS community signed the pact. Over 100 people were present at the signing of the Climate Emergency Declaration. Over 400 people were present at the Climate Walk. The November 25, 2021 event was attended by 115 people. The succession of various campaigns on the subject allowed the management of ÉTS to see the mobilization of its community and encouraged it to reach carboneutrality 9 years earlier than planned (2021 rather than 2030) and therefore to neutralize 2000 tons of GHG annually via the purchase of Gold Standard credits and to create the ÉTS Climate Change Research Fund.

Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
Fill it up: drink the water from our fountains.

A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):
First launched in 2018, this major campaign was relaunched in 2019 during Quebec's Waste Reduction Week. The main goal of the campaign is to enhance the quality of water from the aqueduct and reinforce the behaviour of using reusable water bottles. For this relaunch phase, an information booth was set up, Nalgene refillable bottles were made available for sale at a low price and an animated video illustrating the benefits since the beginning of the campaign was posted online and widely distributed. https://interface.etsmtl.ca/semaine-quebecoise-de-reduction-des-dechets-dites-adieu-aux-bouteilles-deau-a-usage-unique/

This campaign was created and deployed in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Fund of the ÉTS Student Association.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
100 Nalgene bottles were sold, several hundred people visited the information booth and the animated video was viewed and shared hundreds of times.

A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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