322 colleges and universities were evaluated as part of the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card. From the “key findings” section of the executive summary come the following Five Friday Facts:
- More than 70* percent of schools earned an overall grade of “B” or better. The cumulative grade distribution is as follows: 16 percent of schools earned cumulative “A” level grades, 55 percent earned “B” level grades, 23 percent earned “C” level grades, and 6 percent earned “D” level grades.
- Fifty-two schools are recognized as Overall College Sustainability Leaders. Schools whose campus operations and endowment practices merited an overall grade of “A-” qualify as Overall College Sustainability Leaders, the highest level of recognition. See list on the Overall College Sustainability Leaders page.
- High marks for all six campus categories (Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, Student Involvement, and Transportation) resulted in 120 colleges and universities achieving the Campus Sustainability Leader designation.
- Currently, 49 percent of schools report having endowment investments in renewable energy funds. An additional 43 percent report exploring endowment investments in this area.
- Three-quarters of schools have full-time staff dedicated to sustainability.
For an infographic containing much of this information, click here.
* Note: The original source says “More than one-half of schools earned an overall grade of “B” or better (56 percent, or 179 schools). 16 percent of schools earned cumulative ‘A’ level grades, 55 percent earned ‘B’ level grades.” Adding the ‘A’ and ‘B’ results in 71 percent, which is much greater than one-half, hence the wording in the first fact above.
Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art
