Office of Sustainability

The Path to STARS Gold

UMaine is committed to becoming a national leader in sustainability in higher education. To achieve this goal, the Office of Sustainability works to incorporate sustainability into all aspects of campus living, learning, and operations.

To assess our progress toward greater sustainability, UMaine uses the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a program of The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS is a comprehensive sustainability rating system for colleges and universities that addresses the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability.

UMaine completed its first STARS report in April 2019, earning a STARS Silver rating.

Our goal is to achieve STARS Gold!

Students at Spring Fest blowing bubbles.

Campus Engagement

Make sustainability an integral part of orientation for all incoming students

Create a longitudinal assessment of sustainability culture for all campus constituents

Incorporate sustainability into new employee orientation

Curriculum

Incorporate sustainability into existing courses, create sustainability-specific courses, and provide an incentive for sustainability-related course development.

Create a sustainability-focused graduate degree, minor, or certificate

Perform a sustainability literacy assessment of the student body

Air and Climate

Source a significant percentage of UMaine’s energy supply from clean and/or renewable sources

Fogler Library and the mall in the fall.

Energy

Continue reducing greenhouse gas emissions from campus heating and electricity use to reach our goal of carbon neutrality by 2040

Governance

Form a Committee on Investor Responsibility to make recommendations regarding socially and environmentally responsible investment opportunities

Create a system-level Sustainability Committee to address sustainability-related decisions within the University of Maine System

UMaine dining worker scooping pasta onto a plate.

Procurement