University of Winnipeg
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

In 2015, UWinnipeg announced a new vision based on the following strategic objectives: Academic Excellence and Renewal; Student Experience and Success; Indigenization; Research Excellence, Knowledge Mobilization and Impact; and Financial and Institutional Resilience. Within our strategic directions document, Growing Leaders, UWinnipeg establishes sustainability as a core element of financial and institutional resilience and as a primary consideration for all planning and decision-making.

UWinnipeg also has a specific strategy for sustainability. The Institutional Sustainability Strategy is the culmination of ongoing research and an engagement process that took place in 2016. This process sought to chart a path forward for The University of Winnipeg’s ongoing sustainability efforts. The result includes nineteen specific, measurable targets organized under four overarching goals that are consistent with the University’s Strategic Directions and Integrated Academic and Research Plan (IARP). These goals are:

1. Exceed Canada’s commitments under the Paris Accord

2. Cultivate principled relationships with people on and off campus and with ecosystems near and far

3. Develop and deliver curriculum, student services, and programming that deepen student knowledge about sustainability and that help motivate thoughtful leadership and action

4. Mobilize evidence and research to address local and global sustainability challenges

In 2016 UWinnipeg Published its Integrated Academic and Research Plan (2016 – 2021). Several objectives within this are aimed at sustainability. These include a commitment to develop curricula related to sustainability, using the campus as a living laboratory for research and teaching, and support and highlight interdisciplinary sustainability-related research
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/iarp/IARP%202016-2021.pdf

UWinnipeg also recognizes the importance of indigenous leadership to achieving sustainability, and our commitment to indigenization is outlined here:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/strategic-directions/indigenization.html

UWinnipeg's 2017 Institutional Sustainability Strategy contains specific goals and targets relating to curriculum. Here is a the link to the strategy: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/strategic-directions/docs/strategic-direction/2015-strategic-directions-booklet.pdf)

Goal 3, Target 3: Create a framework for linking academic advising, career services, experiential learning, and on-campus leadership development opportunities to better support students wishing to understand how to make the biggest difference possible both on campus and in their future careers. Complete framework by the end of 2017 for implementation through 2021. Report on implementation progress in the annual Sustainability Performance report.

Goal 3, Target 4: Support an ongoing “community of practice” with an interest in enhancing sustainability education on campus, e.g., organizing workshops, developing peer-to-peer exchange, further integrating sustainability throughout the curriculum and identifying support resources for faculty and staff.

Goal 3, Target 5: Develop the mechanisms required to track how many students graduate from UWinnipeg having taken at least one sustainability-focused course, as well as to track which and how many sustainability courses all students are taking, by 2019.

UWinnipeg's 2017 Institutional Sustainability Strategy contains specific goals and targets relating to sustainability research. Here is a the link to the strategy: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/strategic-directions/docs/strategic-direction/2015-strategic-directions-booklet.pdf)

Goal 3, Target 1: In collaboration with those responsible for implementing sustainability action on campus, generate, publish and promote a list of campus-based sustainability related student project and research opportunities annually. Support work to include these projects in coursework through efforts such as the establishment of the Campus Sustainability Course as a standing course in the University course catalogue and the launch of the Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Certificate program at PACE.

Goal 4,target 1: In partnership with the Research Office, develop metrics related to research knowledge mobilization consistent with the Integrated Academic and Research Plan by 2018.

UWinnipeg's 2017 Institutional Sustainability Strategy contains specific goals and targets relating to campus engagement. Here is a the link to the strategy: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/strategic-directions/docs/strategic-direction/2015-strategic-directions-booklet.pdf)

Goal 3, target 2: Undertake a research project in 2017 using appreciative inquiry to better understand the learning process, learning outcomes, and interests of students who act and lead. In 2018, apply findings to develop a framework and action plan for growing leaders and continually engaging students who are actively working towards positive impacts on campus and in their communities.

Goal 4, Target 2: Develop and publish a sustainability outreach and engagement plan for internal and external engagement by the end of October 2017, and implement it through to 2021.

Goal 4,target 3: Engage faculty, staff and students with relevant expertise to develop workshops and courses that support campus community members in better understanding how their day-to-day work on campus relates to, and can impact positively or negatively on, key sustainability issues. By 2020, have 75% of non-faculty staff complete at least one sustainability related workshop per year. Develop targets for students and faculty as part of a sustainability outreach and engagement plan.

Publicly available annual performance reports include details on the status of commitments (relating to the targets in our strategy) made in a given year and provide the specific actions planned for the year ahead. See page 47-49 https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/fy16report.pdf

Goals 1 and 2 of our Institutional Sustainability Strategy pertain to addressing climate change and protecting the environment: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/plans/2017_07_Sustainability_InstitutionalStrategy_V04.pdf

Goal 1, target 1: Achieve a 50% reduction of scope 1 (direct emissions related to operations – i.e. heating) and scope 2 (indirect emissions – i.e. electricity) GHG emissions compared to a 1990 baseline by 2020 and achieve 0 emissions by 2035.

Goal 1, target 2: Aim for 5% of total energy use on campus to be derived from unconventional renewable energy sources (solar, geothermal, wind, sustainable biomass) by 2025.

Goal 1, target 3: Establish baseline for key scope 3 (emissions that occur as a consequence of operations, but not owned or controlled by the University – i.e. air travel) by 2017, report annually on them moving forward, and set a reduction target by 2018.

Our Energy Management Guidelines (based on LEED O & M) contain specific targets and standards relating to climate change and emissions reductions:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/energy-management-guidelines1.pdf

Goal 2 of our Institutional Sustainability Strategy includes specific targets for ensuring the sustainability of new and existing building:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/plans/2017_07_Sustainability_InstitutionalStrategy_V04.pdf

Goal 2, target 1: Aim to align facilities management to reflect the equivalent of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Operations and Maintenance (O&M) standards by 2021; continually integrate reporting metrics from LEED O&M implementation into ongoing annual reporting to achieve full alignment and reporting capacity by 2021.

Goal 2, Target 1: Ensure that all new buildings and major renovations are built to the highest possible standards appropriate to the given project and context. By July 2017, draw on LEED, LivingBuilding, Passive House, and Green Globes to develop (a) transparent decision-making criteria that will be used to determine the most appropriate approach for a given project (b) a publicly available internal sustainability project checklist (c) standard template sustainability RFP requirements for all projects. Report on projects annually.

Our Capital Construction and Renovations Procedures (based on LEED O & M) contain specific targets and standards for sustainable building construction and renovation:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/capital-construction-and-renovations-procedures-1.pdf

Our green cleaning guidelines also establishes goals and metrics for sustainable building maintenance that are inline with LEED O & M:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/cleaning-guidelines2.pdf

Goal 1 of our Institutional Sustainability Strategy includes specific targets for addressing our energy use:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/plans/2017_07_Sustainability_InstitutionalStrategy_V04.pdf

Goal 1, target 1: Achieve a 50% reduction of scope 1 (direct emissions related to operations – i.e. heating) and scope 2 (indirect emissions – i.e. electricity) GHG emissions compared to a 1990 baseline by 2020 and achieve 0 emissions by 2035.

Goal 1 target 2: Aim for 5% of total energy use on campus to be derived from unconventional renewable energy sources (solar, geothermal, wind, sustainable biomass) by 2025.

Our Energy Management Guidelines (based on LEED O & M) contain specific targets and standards relating to energy efficiency and green renewable energy:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/energy-management-guidelines1.pdf

Goal 2 of our Institutional Sustainability Strategy includes specific targets for ensuring our food and dining services remain sustainable:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/plans/2017_07_Sustainability_InstitutionalStrategy_V04.pdf

Goal 2, Target 3: Support campus food services as they continue to achieve the highest standards as measured by the foremost standards of sustainability in the campus food service industry, currently LEAF and/or STARS.

UWinnipeg's new purchasing guidelines (based on LEED O & M) will also be applied to the renewed contract with Diversity Food services:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/sustainable-purchasing-guidelines1.pdf

Goal 2, Target 3: Publish sustainability requirements and standards for environmentally and/or socially preferable purchased goods as well as detailed sustainability-related scoring requirements for RFPs on the Purchasing Services website by the end of December 2017 for use by all UWinnipeg staff making purchasing decisions. Ensure requirements reflect metrics that support the University’s Indigenization goals.

Goal 2, Target 1 of our Institutional Sustainability Strategy outlines our commitment to adhere to LEED O & M. This includes meeting standards that apply to outdoor maintenance, pest control, water management and landscaping that are now embedded with in specific procedures and guidelines.

Goal 2, Target 1: Aim to align facilities management to reflect the equivalent of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Operations and Maintenance (O&M) standards by 2021; continually integrate reporting metrics from LEED O&M implementation into ongoing annual reporting to achieve full alignment and reporting capacity by 2021.

Please review our sustainable grounds management practice standards and targets in our Outdoor Maintenance Guidelines based on LEED O & M:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/outdoor-maintenance-guidelines1.pdf

Goal 2 of our Institutional Sustainability Strategy includes specific targets for improving the environmental and social sustainability of UWinnipeg's purchasing practices.
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/plans/2017_07_Sustainability_InstitutionalStrategy_V04.pdf

Goal 2,target 3: Publish sustainability requirements and standards for environmentally and/or socially preferable purchased goods as well as detailed sustainabilityrelated scoring requirements for RFPs on the Purchasing Services website by the end of December 2017 for use by all UWinnipeg staff making purchasing decisions. Ensure requirements reflect metrics that support the University’s Indigenization goals.

Goal 2, target 3: Establish reporting fields required in financial software to track: (a) The percentage of all goods purchased that are environmentally and/or socially preferable; and (b) the average sustainability-related RFP scores of awarded contracts by the end of FY2017. Establish baseline data in 2018 and set targets by early FY2019.

Please review our new Sustainable Purchasing Guideline and updated Sustainability Procedures based on LEED O & M:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/sustainable-purchasing-guidelines1.pdf

https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/approved-purchasing-procedures-revision-nov-20-2018-with-february-2019-revisions.pdf

Active Transportation Infrastructure Guidelines

Goal: 80% of students commuting using a mode other than single-occupancy vehicle and 10% of students commuting by bicycle from May-October

80% of faculty/staff commuting using a mode other than single-occupancy vehicle and 15% of faculty/staff commuting by bicycle from May-October

https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/active-transportation-infrastructure-guidelines1.pdf

Targets and Standards relating to waste management can be found in our new Ongoing Waste Management Guidelines based on LEED O & M:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/ongoing-waste-guidelines1.pdf

Targets and standards relating to sustainable water use can be found in our Indoor Water Use Reduction Guidelines based on LEED O & M:
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/indoor-water-use-reduction-guidelines1.pdf

Goal 2 of our Institutional Sustainability Strategy includes specific targets for increasing equity, diversity and inclusion.
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/plans/2017_07_Sustainability_InstitutionalStrategy_V04.pdf

Goal 2, Target 7: Begin an ongoing institutional learning process with the support of partners, including Indigenous elders and traditional knowledge keepers, to develop an implementation framework for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as it applies to the University and its activities and to continually integrate Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing into our sustainability efforts. Complete framework by the end of 2018 and report on ongoing learning activities and outcomes annually in the annual Sustainability Performance report.

Goal 2 Target 8: Link to the work of existing University bodies addressing human rights, equity, wellness, and accessibility for students, staff and faculty and include a summary of progress in the annual sustainability planning and reporting process by 2017. Building on the experience of the Sustainability Office in setting goals and measuring progress, work with the responsible offices for each of the aforementioned areas to establish and report ongoing data improvement processes to aid in evaluation and planning related to work in these areas, and include appropriate data in the annual sustainability performance report as it becomes available.

UWinnipeg's 2017 Institutional Sustainability Strategy contains specific goals and targets relating to investment and finance. Here is a the link to the strategy: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/strategic-directions/docs/strategic-direction/2015-strategic-directions-booklet.pdf)

Goal 2, target 6 includes contains objectives for providing sustainable investment option: Work in partnership with the UWinnipeg Foundation to evaluate alignment between the over-arching purpose of the University, its policies and strategic directions and Foundation investment policies by the end of 2017. Provide ongoing support to the Pension Board of Trustees in their efforts to ensure that pension options for staff are similarly aligned.

The University of Winnipeg Foundation also adheres to a Responsible Investment Policy which can be found here: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/foundation/docs/responsible-investing-policy-final-with-logo.pdf

UWinnipeg's 2017 Institutional Sustainability Strategy was formally endorsed by our Board of Regents In June of 2017. The introductory section of this document clearly defines our institutions' understanding of, and commitment to, sustainability:

The landscape surrounding sustainability has changed both internationally and right here on campus since the publication of our first institutional sustainability strategy. Over the last year, the University adopted a new Strategic Directions document as well as a new Integrated Academic and Research Plan (IARP). Both documents confirm the University’s ongoing commitment to sustainability while also highlighting possibilities for new directions in our sustainability efforts by creating stronger links with the University’s academic core. Alongside these internal considerations, four quite different external considerations continue to shape conversations on campus.

First, we can recognize international dialogue about the concept of “sustainable development” including the Sustainable Development Goals and Kate Raworth’s pioneering work on “donut economics” (Raworth, 2012). These frameworks emphasize the extent to which human activity continues altering the biosphere. Thanks to research by Rockström et al. (2009) and Steffen et al. (2015), we now often speak of nine planetary boundaries relating to nine different biophysical processes that help maintain a safe operating space for humanity. Human development is beginning to push some of these boundary indicators to their known limit. As humans push against Earth’s natural boundaries, we also begin to limit our ability to secure health and wellbeing for all people. The consequences of ecological overshoot will likely include humanitarian crises by way of environmental refugees, conflict, food shortages and loss of livelihoods and cultures, some of which we are beginning to see already.

Second, the climate-justice movement in Canada, with its substantial Indigenous leadership and strong student presence, cannot be ignored. We might consider this movement to be a response to the persistent gap between what scientists and researchers suggest is required to address many of our sustainability challenges, and the political solutions currently on offer. The global climate justice movement, in turn, arguably played a key role in introducing language into the Paris Agreement recognizing that even a 1.5 degree global temperature rise poses serious threats to many people, particularly those in low-lying regions of the world.

Third, federal, provincial and municipal frameworks and legislation relevant to the sustainability conversation provide important context for our institutional efforts. This includes sweeping changes to Canada’s environmental assessment legislation as well as several other Canadian environmental laws (Gibson, 2012; Powell, 2012), with reverses to some of these changes anticipated in the years ahead (Liberal Party of Canada, 2017). It also includes the new Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (Government of Canada, 2016) and the Canadian Energy Strategy (Council of the Federation, 2015), praised by some for arriving at national agreement on a complex challenge and criticized by others both for how they have addressed relationships with Indigenous peoples and for their levels of ambition related to managing the decline of fossil fuel production and use (Samphir, 2016; Krackle, 2015). With a newly elected provincial government, Manitobans are waiting for signals on how the province may address sustainability. Manitoba’s Sustainable Development Act was assented to in 1998, and elements related especially to procurement are relevant to our institution. Our previous government had begun a process of replacing the Act with updated sustainability legislation, but what our new government chooses to do here remains to be seen. At the City level, a set of community indicators called “MyPeg” (Peg, 2017) provide valuable information about many aspects of sustainability in Winnipeg — however, the existing planning document related to sustainability is now six years old (City of Winnipeg, 2011).

Finally, the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has emerged as the leading third party campus sustainability rating system in Canada and the US. STARS is a self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure and report on their sustainability performance in a manner that allows for a degree of meaningful comparison between different reporting institutions. It includes performance indicators and criteria organized into four categories: Academics, Engagement, Operations, and Planning w Administration. Institutions pursue credits that are relevant and meaningful to them and earn points toward a STARS Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum rating or earn recognition as a STARS Reporter. Once an institution has earned a rating, it is valid for three years. Over the past several months, we have placed these different ways of approaching sustainability as well as our own institutional experience and perspective into dialogue. This has enabled a process of triangulation to chart a path forward that is appropriate to our values and circumstances.

What emerged from this triangulation is a view that both on campus and more broadly, conversations about sustainability today are about recognizing that justice, human rights, equity, and the environment are inextricably linked. The notion of trade-offs must be replaced with approaches that identify synergies and recognize that sustainability is about simultaneous improvements in human and environmental wellbeing, not just reductions in damage or harm.1 The literature, social movements, the leading third-party rating system for campus sustainability, and our own campus community all agree that sustainability is about more than waste reduction and energy efficiency. It is, in the words of our own Strategic Directions document, about the “health, revitalization, and resilience of communities and ecosystems.” Our aim in this new strategy is to reflect this aspiration and to chart a path forward that seeks to see our institution contribute to a societal transition towards sustainability. To this end, our plan includes an updated set of overarching goals along with specific, measureable targets for each of those goals.

Pages 11-12 here: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/plans/2017_07_Sustainability_InstitutionalStrategy_V04.pdf

UWinnipeg's strategic directions document defines sustainability as follows:
Sustainability is a lens applied to all practices and processes to guide University activities (academic and operational) increasingly towards supporting the revitalization and resilience of ecosystems and communities. We have done a great deal to reduce our environmental impact, but more can be done to integrate the concept of sustainability into our institutional culture and our academic mission. We have played a leadership role in demonstrating that sustainability is not only possible, but a strategic advantage. We will continue reducing our impact and offer learning opportunities for our students as we ourselves are learning and leading within the broader community.

page 24 here: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/strategic-directions/docs/strategic-direction/2015-strategic-directions-booklet.pdf

Our Institutional Sustainability Strategy also defines sustainability in this way:
The notion of trade-offs must be replaced with approaches that identify synergies and recognize that sustainability is about simultaneous improvements in human and environmental wellbeing, not just reductions in damage or harm.

Page 12 here: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/sustainability/docs/plans/2017_07_Sustainability_InstitutionalStrategy_V04.pdf

in response to the STARS Staff review feedback we received, we provided more specific responses for Curriculum, Research, Campus Engagement, and Investment & Finance, and Transportation, Waste, and Water.