Leading local change for global impact

Calgary, AB – From creating pop-up homeless shelters during the pandemic to designing sustainable, culturally appropriate affordable housing, the University of Calgary is reshaping our community locally to create a more sustainable future for all, according to the 2021 Institutional Sustainability report released today.

Through entrepreneurial thinking, innovative research approaches, and hands-on learning – the University of Calgary is committed to inspiring sustainability leaders ready to make a truly global impact. Our Institutional Sustainability Strategy (ISS) is a roadmap for making the world a better place for all. This year’s report highlights the extraordinary progress is already taking place. And this is only the beginning.

-Teri Balser, Provost and Vice-President (Academic)

For UCalgary, sustainability isn’t confined to protecting the environment. It’s also about building a world where everyone can thrive. Creating sustainable cities and communities, promoting gender equality, ending poverty, and enabling good jobs and economic growth – the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals align with the university’s vision for supporting a thriving Calgary. 

A group of students created the Sustainable Development Goals Alliance (SDGA) to support community-centred initiatives and amplify youth voices and action towards building a more sustainable world. The SDGA is a student-run organization comprised of student clubs who collaborate to solve sustainability issues on local and global levels, and the group represents the diversity of students interested in sustainability on campus.

“Sustainability impacts all of us,” said medical student Tyler Warnock, who is also a founding member of the Sustainable Development Goals Alliance. “As students and youth there is a unique connection that many of us have to this work – the actions we collectively take now will impact our livelihoods and collective prosperity in the future.”

Research excellence is sparking new approaches to support social, economic, and environmental change. As a global intellectual hub in Canada's most enterprising city, the University of Calgary fosters a rich environment for transdisciplinary sustainability research. These diverse bodies of work are contributing to enhancing various aspects of sustainability, which are highlighted throughout the report. Some include:

• UCalgary researchers have advised on a National Action Plan to end gender-based violence and gender equality in the Arctic.
• Teams have launched research on Canada’s changing mountain systems based on Western scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems to find new ways to protect the natural world through ecosystem restoration.

• Academics are exploring linkages between economic and social development, power relations and justice issues in our society.

In 2021 UCalgary was ranked among the top 5 per cent globally for a second year in a row by the Times Higher Education for progress in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This ranking assesses the sustainability commitment of universities at institutional, local, national, regional, and global levels. Over 1100 institutions were evaluated in the 2021 ranking.

UCalgary was also ranked 28th out of 328 North American institutions by Sierra Cool Schools for their environmental commitments and demonstrated action. This is the fifth consecutive year UCalgary has been named a “Cool School”.

And the University of Calgary was named to Princeton Review’s 2022 Green College Honor Roll, which recognizes the top 30 schools in North America from among close to 700 institutions. 

Sustainability annual report

There’s plenty of reasons UCalgary continues to rank highly:

• Nearly 17,000 students have engaged in one or more sustainability-related courses in the past year
• 54 sustainability-related start-ups have been launched
• Approximately 20% of researchers in over 80% of UCalgary departments are conducting sustainability-related research
• UCalgary named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for the sixth consecutive year
• UCalgary has reduced its GHG emissions 39% since 2008
• UCalgary has reduced water consumption 44% since 2008

Check out the report highlights video here.

The release of this report is also aligned with the annual Sustainability Week at UCalgary. See a full list of offerings here: https://www.ucalgary.ca/sustainability/get-involved/events/2021-sustainability-week

About the Institutional Sustainability StrategyThe University of Calgary’s Institutional Sustainability Strategy provides a road map for continuous improvement in our pursuit of excellence and leadership in sustainability. We aim to be a Canadian post-secondary education leader in sustainability in our academic and engagement programs, administrative and operational practices, and through supporting community and industry in their aims for leadership in sustainability. Learn more about UCalgary’s leadership in sustainability. 

Media inquiries

Dean Parthenis
Director, Media and Issues Management 
403.629.5806
dparthen@ucalgary.ca

About the University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is a global intellectual hub located in Canada’s most enterprising city. In our spirited, high-quality learning environment, students thrive in programs made rich by research, hands-on experiences and entrepreneurial thinking. Our strategy drives us to be recognized as one of Canada’s top five research universities, engaging the communities we both serve and lead.

For more information, visit ucalgary.ca. Stay up to date with University of Calgary news headlines on Twitter @UCalgary. For details on faculties and how to reach experts go to our media centre at ucalgary.ca/mediacentre.