Sustainability

• Publish a list of sustainability focused courses at RRC Polytech to help students find and understand available sustainability course offerings.
• Provide supports and resources to increase the availability of Land-based learning opportunities.
• Offer professional development training for academic staff that supports the integration of sustainability into curriculum. Explore hosting a Sustainability Community of Practice to connect staff and support peer-to-peer learning.
• Add sustainability as a College-Wide Learning Outcome during the next renewal process. This action will ensure that all new academic programs and existing programs undergoing renewal will imbed sustainability into their programs.
• Continue to work with the Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2) coalition to develop opportunities for rapid reskilling and upskilling to meet labour market demands.

• RRC Polytech and Research Partnerships & Innovation will continue to be a leader in sustainability-focused applied research. To uphold this role, 90% of all new research projects undertaken will be in support of one or more targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Integrate Indigenous culture, ways of learning and Indigenous Research Methodologies into research initiatives and programs on campus.
• Amplify the voices and expertise of Indigenous researchers from our campuses.
• Develop initiatives to support and celebrate student-led sustainability research and entrepreneurship.

Procurement

• Develop and regularly update a High Impact Procurement Opportunities list to prioritize sustainable procurement efforts on categories with high volume, high spend and/or strategic importance for sustainability, social responsibility and/or Indigenous partnerships.
• Develop training and communications for staff that are regularly involved in procurement to provide guidance on integrating sustainability into the procurement process.

Land

• Increase the percentage of campus grounds that are restored, naturalized areas.
• Support the development of outdoor spaces that facilitate land-based learning.

Climate

• Develop a Master Climate Action Plan that includes a comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory, identifies short- and long-term reduction commitments and outlines a framework to achieve those targets in the coming years.
• Undertake a climate vulnerability assessment for the campus and identify potential impacts to campus infrastructure, operations and maintenance, emergency preparedness, delivery of education and research, and campus community health and wellbeing.
• Using results of the climate vulnerability assessment, prioritize resilient and climate adaptive design strategies and identify retrofit opportunities that will reduce risk and life cycle costs due to predicted climate change in our region. Assessment areas to include thermal comfort, rainwater management, landscape design and indoor air quality.

Electricity, Heating and Water

• Develop a comprehensive Energy Plan to support energy efficiency improvements and decarbonization of existing buildings. Include strategies to integrate maintenance and renewal that are in alignment with decarbonization goals, and a resourcing strategy to support incremental costs.
• Improve tracking of building space utilization and remote work and learning activity. Explore opportunities for energy reductions through optimization of space utilization and mitigation of new floor space growth.
• Install additional water metering and sub-metering to better track and monitor performance. Establish campus-level water conservation targets and identify priority retrofit opportunities to increase water use efficiency.

Planning, Design and Construction

• Aim for LEED Gold or higher certification for all new construction and major renovation projects, ensuring adherence to the highest sustainability standards.
• Working with Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers, staff and students, develop Indigenous Planning and Design Guidelines for use in all new buildings and renovations.
• Ensure all buildings and infrastructure are designed to withstand the impacts of climate change, including extreme weather events and changing environmental conditions.
• Develop Design and Construction Guidelines and integrate RFP requirements for campus construction projects.
• Encourage the exploration and adoption of cutting-edge sustainable design and construction technologies, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
• Establish a comprehensive monitoring and reporting system to track the sustainability performance of buildings and infrastructure, providing transparency and accountability.

Food and Dining

• Work with campus food service providers on provision requirements related to healthy, nutritious food options that consider environmental and social impacts while providing culturally inclusive dietary choices.
• Develop partnerships with community organizations that support the reduction of food waste and donation of food from RRC Polytech kitchens and programs.
• Support the production of food grown on campus through access to community garden plots and edible landscaping plantings.

Waste Diversion

• Conduct a comprehensive waste audit at our Notre Dame Campus to determine waste generation sources and volumes and to capture baseline data for measurement and evaluation of our waste diversion efforts.
• Develop a Waste Minimization Action Plan using circular economy principles and an emphasis on source reduction and waste prevention. Target year-over-year improvements towards zero waste goals.
• Develop an RRC Polytech Sustainable Events Guide with actionable suggestions and best practices for integrating sustainability into meetings and events.

Transportation

• Conduct baseline surveys and consultations to capture current commuting patterns and to identify barriers and areas of opportunity.
• Develop an updated Transportation Plan to support the transportation needs of students and staff at RRC Polytech with targets, strategies and actions to make commuting to campus more sustainable, convenient and affordable.
• Preference full electric vehicles in the procurement of replacement campus vehicles unless none meet the requirements or total cost of ownership is unreasonably high.

Community Engagement

• Develop a Student Sustainability Leadership program that supports peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and leadership.
• Create a Sustainable Development Goals engagement plan with representation from students and staff to foster conversation and support for the SDGs across institutional departments.
• Foster cross-departmental relationships and joint initiatives to increase the effectiveness of work in support of Sustainability, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Truth and Reconciliation.

Events and Communication

• Conduct sustainability literacy surveys with staff and students to gauge levels of understanding and interest. Use results to guide sustainability outreach and events.
• Provide educational opportunities on campus throughout the school year to enhance sustainability learning outside of the classroom.
• Communicate our progress, achievements and lessons learned in our sustainability work to deepen reciprocal partnerships with industry and community and to inspire action beyond our institution.

Financial

• Explore the feasibility of reinvesting savings from water and energy efficiency measures into projects that facilitate sustainability and further financial benefits.
• Identify opportunities for internal carbon cost accounting approaches to monitor campus carbon emissions and facilitate climate action.

Reporting

• Formalize and operationalize the ongoing collection and maintenance of institutional sustainability data.
• Track College performance against the Sustainable Development Goals and communicate annual progress through SDG Accord reporting.
• Target improvement in STARS performance against STARS evaluation framework and continue to report on STARS criteria at 3 year intervals.