Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.23
Liaison Josh Lasky
Submission Date March 5, 2020

STARS v2.2

George Washington University
IN-18: Green Event Certification

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 0.50 Kimberly Williams
Not available at this time
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have or participate in a green event certification program?:
Yes

Has the institution held one or more certified events in the previous year?:
Yes

Does the institution’s green event certification program address the following?:
Yes or No
Sustainable transportation options, teleconferencing options, and/or carbon offsets Yes
Sustainable catering (e.g., sourcing local and third party certified food and beverages, providing vegetarian/vegan options, using reusable/compostable materials) Yes
Paper consumption (e.g., minimization and recycled/FSC certified content) Yes
Energy efficiency (e.g., equipment and lighting) Yes
Waste minimization and diversion Yes
Communications and/or signage about the sustainable practices Yes

A brief description of the institution’s green event certification program:

Located downtown Washington, D.C., GW hosts hundreds of events on campus per day, ranging from major public events in Lisner Auditorium (such as hosting Bernie Sanders, Nikki Haley, and Gretta Thurberg) to daily events in our student center such as a meeting for a student club to a fundraising event for major donors to an esteemed academic summit. Given the volume and diversity of events, we provide a comprehensive and adaptive Green Events Program with a few key signature deep green events.

Through the Green Events Program, GW Office of Sustainability provides consultations, resources, and guidelines, and works with stakeholders across campus to implement the guidelines. The Office has publicly recongized in event programs and as such certified a number of annual signature events for their robust green practices at their events including the Annual GW Diversity Summit, the GW Dining Food Fest, and the annual "Midnight Breakfast" event that provides food and fun during final exams. For these events, the Office helps event planners obtain composting bins and volunteers, signage, and sustainable options for catering and giveaways.

Beyond the signature events, the Green Events Program provides guidance for event planners on location, marketing, materials, decorations, and food, as well as how to partner with outside vendors to host a sustainable event. The Program has a positive impact through waste reduction, sustainable catering, and other issue areas. Efforts to promote sustainable transportation options include supporting event planners to provide information about nearby bike racks and metrorail stops. Efforts to promote sustainable catering include supporting event planners to provide at least one vegetariam option. Efforts to limit waste include supporting event planners to choose beverage dispensers or pitchers over single use bottles, serving food "buffet style" instead of individually wrapped goods, and donating extra food to the Food Recovery Network. Efforts to promote energy efficiency include supporting event planners to choose locations with natural lighting. Efforts to promote waste minimazation include supporting event planners to compost food waste, as well as urging event planners to get an accurate head count of participants to avoid excess food products.


Website URL where information about the green event certification program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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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.