New York University
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

NYU’s 2024 Sustainability Assessment, which includes sustainability literacy questions and a cultural assessment, was developed by NYU’s Office of Sustainability to evaluate the success of NYU's sustainability initiatives and education, and develop insights into how our initiatives and sustainability education can be improved. The Office of Sustainability reviewed best practices from 10 other universities to inform the development of the sustainability assessment. Once a draft survey was compiled, the Office of Sustainability reviewed the survey with NYU’s Provost Office.  

See the attached document

NYU’s 2024 Sustainability Assessment was open to the entire NYU community, including students, faculty, and staff, from September 23, 2024 - November 1, 2024. The survey was included in 2 university-wide emails sent by NYU’s Chief Sustainability Officer, 2 university-wide weekly newsletters, and the Office of Sustainability’s monthly newsletter. The Office of Sustainability also hosted a variety of tabling sessions during NYC Climate Week events (September 22, 2024 - September 29, 2024) and in popular locations across campus to encourage survey responses, and worked with university partners to disseminate the survey to their communities via newsletters, digital screens, and classes.   

NYU plans to host a post-assessment to the entire NYU community in 3 years to ensure that we are capturing longitudinal observations.

• NYU received 7,043 responses with 5,000 responses (71%) coming from students, 1,482 responses (21% coming from staff and administrators), and 510 responses (7%) coming from faculty. The following below is a breakdown of responses:

• Q: How important was sustainability to you before coming to NYU? Mean 3.7/5 (5 is highest).

• Q: How important is sustainability to you now that you are at NYU? Mean 4.0/5.

• Q: NYU has provided students, staff, faculty, and administrators with opportunities to learn about sustainability and get involved on campus. 3.4/5.

• Q: Which of the following NYU sustainability programs and initiatives are you aware of? Check all that apply.

• A: Top 5 answers

• None, 2549 (36.2%)

• NYU’s Climate Action Plan, 2335 (33.2%)

• LEED certified buildings, 2309 (32.8%)

• The Climate Change Initiative, 1348 (19.1%)

• The Sustainability Leadership Program, 1190 (16.9%)

• Q: Which of the following NYU sustainability policies are you aware of? Check all that apply. 

• A: Top 5 answers

• None, 4050 (57.5%)

• NYU Grounds Zero Emission Policy, 1520 (21.6%)

• Water Bottle Purchasing Policy, 1244 (17.7%)

• Green Cleaning Policy, 802 (11.4%)

• Indoor Space Temperature Guideline, 780 (11.1%)

• Q: At NYU, where have you learned about sustainability? Check all that apply.

• A: Top 5 answers

• Social media or other forms of communications, 3050 (43.3%)

• I have not learned about sustainability at NYU, 2187 (31.1%)

• Events, 1796 (25.5%)

• In the classroom, 1651 (23.4%)

• Peer to peer, 1634 (23.2%)