Centennial College has won a national award for embracing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and incorporating environmental innovation across the institution, embedding them in the college’s curriculum, strategic plan, applied research and entrepreneurship initiatives, infrastructure and operations.
Centennial College collected the Excellence in Sustainable Development Award, which was presented by Colleges and institutes Canada (CICan) at the association’s annual conference in Halifax this week. Centennial was one of 23 Canadian institutions recognized by CICan’s Awards of Excellence for their best practices, but only one of a handful of Gold Award recipients. Dr. Craig Stephenson, Centennial College President and CEO, was on hand to receive the honour.
“We are deeply invested in advancing sustainability, environmental stewardship and green innovation across our college. Centennial is incredibly proud of the work it has been undertaking as a community to inject sustainability into our campus culture, operations and programming. I am a firm believer in the power we all have to resolve the environmental challenges we currently face – and, if we all act collectively, we will have a fighting chance.”
By adopting the UN’s “Decade of Action,” Centennial is eager to strengthen its sustainability mandate and identify areas where it can grow, evolve and leverage its opportunities and partnerships. Indeed, the college has already taken a number of meaningful steps to embed the Sustainable Development Goals across its operations.
- Launching multiple curricular and co-curricular activities, such as community gardens, pollinator gardens, founding partner of the WWF Living Planet @ Campus program, and Sustainability at Centennial.
- Implementation of sustainable infrastructure and operations, including the mass-timber Progress Campus A-Building (formerly A-Block) Expansion, LEED® spaces, waste diversion programs, green roofs and EV chargers.
- Establishing the SDG Innovation Lab, which engages students to become change makers and develop SDG solutions and participate in global events.
- Serving as a founding member of the EaRTH District, driving collaboration in support of clean, sustainable innovation throughout the eastern GTA.
- Incorporating Global Citizenship and Equity Learning outcomes into 92 per cent of college programs, which align and educate on SDG issues.
- Offering the largest number of courses focused on environmental, sustainable and clean technology in Ontario, readying Centennial graduates to be leaders in the green economy.
In addition to accepting the award, Dr. Stephenson signed the SDG Accord, which is a pledge by colleges and universities around the world to inspire, celebrate and advance the critical role that education has in delivering the SDGs and the value it brings governments, business and the broader society, and to do so in ways that share the learning with all learning institutions, both nationally and internationally.
Centennial is committed to infusing sustainability into everything the college does in order to address the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. To learn more about its sustainability efforts, please take a look at Centennial College’s Earth Day video.