University Times

Pitt earned a C on its green report card, according to an independent evaluation of sustainability activities at more than 300 colleges and universities with the largest endowments in the United States and Canada.

Now in its fourth year, the College Sustainability Report Card, compiled by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, is a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

The report card focuses on sustainability in research and teaching as measured by publicly available information and survey results on policies and practices in nine main categories: administration; climate change and energy; food and recycling; green building; student involvement; transportation; endowment transparency; investment policies, and shareholder engagement.

The profiled schools, the 300 with the largest endowments and 32 additional schools that asked to participate, have combined holdings of more than $325 billion — approximately 95 percent of all higher education endowment assets, according to press materials accompanying the Oct. 7 report card release.

Schools were not ranked against each other, but, according to the report card, more than half of all institutions (176, or 53 percent) earned an overall grade of B- or better. Thirty-four percent of the institutions, including Pitt, earned an overall C grade.

Participating institutions were asked to fill out four surveys: campus operations; dining services; student activities, and investment practices.

Pitt did not complete the survey on investment practices, according to the report card data. Thus, Pitt, along with 41 percent of the institutions, received an F grade in the shareholder investment category, and along with 26 percent of institutions received an F in the endowment transparency category.

According to the report card, “[Pitt] has no known policy of disclosure of endowment holdings or its shareholder voting record. … The University has not made any public statements about active ownership or a proxy voting policy.”

However, Pitt was awarded a C in the investment priorities category, which focuses on three areas: prioritizing return on investment; investing in renewable energy funds, and investing in community development loan funds.

According the report card, “Since points were awarded to schools for aiming to optimize investment return — one component of a sustainable endowment — no school received less than a C grade in this category.”

Pitt’s other grades were: B for administration; C for climate change and energy; A for food and recycling; C for green building; C for student involvement, and A for transportation.

Attilio Favorini, who chairs Pitt’s sustainability subcommittee (part of the University Senate plant utilization and planning committee), said, “We on the sustainability subcommittee have been working for three years on these kinds of initiatives, and I have witnessed a tremendous effort on the part of the administration in raising awareness on our campus and in supporting green initiatives.”

Favorini cited projects such as the conversion from coal-fired to gas-powered steam plants, the annual Blue, Gold and Green sustainability festival sponsored by Purchasing, student recycling competitions, a planned spring 2010 Senate plenary session on sustainability, Pitt’s LEED-certified green buildings and the installation of green roofs on certain campus buildings as examples of campus-wide sustainability activities.

“That doesn’t mean I would give us an A, because we still have a long way to go,” Favorini said. “But it’s heartening and encouraging and meaningful that the Provost’s office has lent support to our subcommittee’s efforts. They also have supported us in our desire to benchmark peer institutions that are noted for green practices.”

The full College Sustainability Report Card, including Pitt’s completed surveys, is available at www.greenreportcard.org.

—Peter Hart