2020-21 Progress report
The goal of this report is transparency, celebration of progress made on the Sustainability Action Plan and acknowledgement of areas needing improvement.
Michael Di Grappa, VP Services and Sustainability
A word from our Vice-President, Services and Sustainability
Over a period of several years, the university embarked on a collaborative mission to develop a Sustainability Action Plan that addresses Concordia’s unique strengths and challenges. One year after the launch of our Sustainability Action Plan in November 2020, this annual report serves to keep our community informed, celebrate the progress made on the Sustainability Action Plan, and look to the future as an opportunity to address areas for improvement.
YEAR-ONE PROGRESS
Stream highlights
The mind.heart.mouth garden at Loyola Campus supplied thousands of kilograms of vegetables to community groups in 2021.
Food Systems
Hospitality Concordia collaborated with professors in Geography and Marketing for an experiential learning project aimed at increasing plant-based consumption in university dining halls. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, implementation of their strategies only began during the fall 2021 term when campus dining areas reopened.
Concordians collected 33 bags of landfill waste and 11 bags of recyclables at the spring 2021 clean-up.
Waste
Zero Waste Concordia collaborated with the Office of Sustainability and others to host the first litter clean-up on campus. Concordians could also participate “virtually” by hosting a clean-up in their own communities. This was a way to engage in-person with Concordians in a safe way with a waste diversion impact, to raise awareness about waste, and to help the community connect with each other.
President Graham Carr, professor Rebecca Tittler, and a member of the non-profit Soverdi plant a sapling at the Loyola campus.
Climate
Concordia’s third greenhouse gas inventory is complete. For the first time, the inventory includes additional Scope 3 emissions from all modes of transportation used by Concordia commuters. The inventory will serve as an indicator for strategies and targets related to the Climate Action Plan such as the target to reduce Concordia’s emissions from buildings by 25% compared to 2014-2015.
A unique outdoor solar house is currently being used to investigate innovative solar façade and roof systems at the Loyola campus.
Research
A working group was formed to explore the development of a Concordia Institute for Sustainability Research. The institute, if pursued, would support interdisciplinary sustainability research at Concordia. Consultations with community members will begin next year.
A group of Concordians gather at Batiment 7, a citizen-led urban design project in Pointe-Saint-Charles, to engage in city-based learning.
Curriculum
A curriculum inventory of sustainability course content and program-level sustainability learning outcomes was performed in 2020-21 by the Office of Sustainability. The inventory found that 11 percent of courses contained sustainability content. It was also found that approximately 19 percent of Concordia students graduate from programs that require an understanding of the concept of sustainability.
