Strategic Planning

Our process unifies the initiatives and ideas under a shared vision and goals for sustainability, helping schools understand their role in creating a more sustainable campus. This process also connects different stakeholders and delineates responsibility for sustainability practices more broadly across the institution.

Sustainability plans justify financial investments in emissions reduction and other sustainability goals. With extensive experience in navigating complex institutions and ideas, our staff can help your campus prepare for a sustainable future.

“GreenerU’s sustainability planning support engaged Mount Holyoke’s Sustainability Task Force in a fast-paced process, resulting in consensus recommendations from vision to goals to implementation strategies. Everyone involved expressed their excitement to continue their work.” —Nancy Apple, Mount Holyoke College

Services

• Sustainability strategic plan facilitation
• STARS data collection, reporting, and third-party verification
• Climate action plan facilitation
• Facilitation and leadership training

Strategic planning: A case study

In 2016, GreenerU worked with an ivy-league institution to develop its first formalized document bringing together sustainability efforts from myriad departments around campus. The plan was the result of a 16-month focused collaboration with students, faculty, administrators, and scientists working across departments to create a three-year, operations-focused roadmap to create a more sustainable institution.

This university’s chief sustainability goal: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 against a 2006 baseline

Plan development included:

• Engaging multiple stakeholder groups to establish three institution-specific overarching principles:
  • Advance the school’s core educational, research, and outreach missions to demonstrate its leadership around the world
  • Plan, develop, implement, and measure strategic sustainability initiatives
  • Foster a culture of sustainability
• Forming three focus teams to begin fleshing out detailed goals, strategies, and action items
• Developing internal governance capacity by training focus team leaders on meeting facilitation

Clients

GreenerU has worked with dozens of schools and related organizations in multiple capacities, including the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), Babson University, Brown University, Columbia University, Concord Academy, Dartmouth College, East Carolina University, Ivy+ Sustainability Consortium, Mount Holyoke College, Princeton University, Southern New Hampshire University, Hampshire College, University at Albany, and more.

Contact us to talk about sustainability strategic planning at your institution today.