Campus Sustainability Office - What we are doing

Policy and Governance

The Board of Regents’ Sustainability Policy, along with its aspect-specific administrative policies (Air Quality, Energy Use, Land Use and Property Management, Waste Minimization, Procurement, Risk Management and Emergency Response, Transportation, Water Use) form the core of the University’s Sustainability Management System (SMS). These policies set down specific goals, for which performance indicators and targets have been developed.  The goals set down in these policies require that each department in the University take active responsibility for improving the institution’s sustainability performance.

Driving sustainability into the daily operations of the University is the ultimate goal of the Campus Sustainability Initiative, so that sustainability becomes an organization-wide lens through which all decisions are made. This requires developing particular sets of capabilities among University staff and ensuring that disparate sustainability-related efforts become a cohesive set of coordinated initiatives. The CSO’s multi-stakeholder Sustainability Council, Working Groups, and Campus Sustainability Representatives enable coordination across departments in sustainability planning and ensure that SMS development and CSO initiatives can integrate into the University’s fabric.

The University's 2011/2012 Sustainability Governance priority is to complete its Sustainability Strategic Plan.

Since 2005, the University has:

• Enacted a Sustainability Policy and a set of aspect-specific administrative policies.
• Signed on to The Talloires Declaration, the University and College Presidents’ Climate Change Statement of Action for Canada the Social Purchasing Portal of Seed Winnipeg, and the Manitoba Food Charter.
• Added sustainability responsibilities to all management-level position descriptions.
• Incorporated green procurement principles in a new Board-level purchasing policy.
• Established a Sustainability Benefit for University employees to encourage healthy living and better health for our communities and the environment.
• Supported the efforts of the multi-stakeholder Campus Sustainability Council and its various Working Groups and committees.