The University of British Columbia
IN-4: Innovation 4

The Greenest City Scholars Program was launched in 2010 as the first initiative of a partnership (MOU) between the University of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver to advance both UBC’s and the City’s aggressive sustainability and climate action goals. The Greenest City Scholars Program is an innovative program that sponsors 10 UBC graduate students to work with the City of Vancouver each summer to help meet the city’s ambitious environmental goals. Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 Action Plan identifies ten long-term goals, supported by a set of measurable and attainable targets, for Vancouver to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. Participating students are partnered with city teams to work on goals such as the elimination of dependence on fossil fuels, and making walking, cycling and public transit the preferred transportation options in Vancouver. The Greenest City Scholars hail from a variety of UBC disciplines including architecture, engineering and business. The program is funded by a unique partnership - the university funds the student salaries and in return receives wood waste from the City of Vancouver to fuel its new Bioenergy Research & Demonstration Project. Additional information: 1) The 2010 media release profiling the Memorandum of Understanding between UBC and the City of Vancouver to partner together to advance both the City’s and UBC’s sustainability goals: http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2010/05/11/ubc-and-city-of-vancouver-partner-to-reach-greenest-city-goals/ 2) The call for the 2011 Greenest City Scholars Program: http://sustain.ubc.ca/2011-Greenest-City-Scholars-Program 3) The 2011 Scholars describe their individual projects on an interactive student blog: http://gcscholars.tumblr.com/