AASHE® STARS reporting and review

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) created the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) in 2006 to offer schools a way of baselining and measuring progress on metrics associated with sustainability on their campuses.

STARS is a transparent reporting tool that uses a holistic approach to sustainability, offering schools an opportunity to see each other’s data that is not just limited to facilities or carbon reporting, but socioeconomic, academic, health and wellness, procurement, and a range of additional sustainability as well. Schools participating in STARS vie for ratings starting with Reporter, then Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

STARS participation has many benefits. Among them are gaining international recognition for your sustainability efforts, baselining multiple metrics for continuous improvement, informing strategic planning and budgeting processes, and engaging your campus community in making real progress toward sustainability.

How we can help

GreenerU offers multiple levels of support for STARS, depending on your institution’s needs:

1. Managing the collection and analysis of campus data for STARS submission, which includes providing the necessary planning and guidance for data collection, formatting, and reporting
2. Outlining engagement strategies with process outcomes that include increased knowledge and awareness around sustainability, community building, capability, and buy-in across campus
3. Managing students, fellows, interns, or other campus staff in the process of data collection and analysis
4. Completing a third-party verification once credits are completed to identify any potential missing data or misalignment with AASHE criteria
5. Conducting a gap-analysis on a complete report to identify strengths, areas of opportunity, and actionable next steps for raising your score in alignment with institutional sustainability priorities
6. Using outcomes and key takeaways to set the stage for sustainability and climate action planning, including by creating communication materials to leverage your report for institutional change

Note that v3.0 of STARS incudes bonus points for third-party reviews.

GreenerU experience

Our experience with STARS reporting runs deep and wide. We’ve offered many STARS workshops at AASHE conferences  and have an impressive track record in helping multiple higher education institutions maximize their STARS scores, including at UMass Lowell (a Platinum school as of 2025), UMass Amherst, UMass Chan Medical School, UMass Boston, Humber College, Bentley University, Haverford College, Bryant University, the University of Toronto Mississauga, and the University of Southern California.

Related content

• UMass Lowell walked the path to Platinum: can your institution do the same?
• From STARS v2.2 to STARS v3.0: key changes
• AASHE STARS as a step in your climate action journey
• Leveraging STARS to advance your sustainability goals

Talk to us about STARS! Whether you’re looking to submit for a Platinum rating or completing your first report, we’re here to help.