UNBC just gave other universities in this country another reason to turn green with envy.
The editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers project have named UNBC to the list of the 50 Greenest Employers in 2012.
The award singles out organizations recognized as leaders in creating a culture of environmental awareness by developing projects and programs that promote sustainability and reduce the carbon footprint. Organizations are judged on their ability to involve employees and how those initiatives contribute to the employers' identity and help attract new people to the organization.
"This is the first time we've ever been on the list -- there are only 50 employers in Canada on this list, which makes us among a pretty prestigious group," said Alyson Gourley-Cramer, UNBC's manager of communications and media relations. "More importantly for us, we compare ourselves to other universities on this list and there are only three others on this list (UBC, Alberta and Toronto), all huge universities with huge budgets and huge research dollars."
Having trademarked itself five years ago as "Canada's green university," UNBC has lived up to its name by developing environmental initiatives like its bioenergy heating project, which uses waste wood products from local mills to produce enough heat to supply most of the campus and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 86 per cent.
"We found students were being attracted to UNBC because of our green sustainability initiatives and we started recognizing that it's a differentiator, and it's a competitive market," said Gourley-Cramer. "It's not a superficial trademark, it's something our university plan supports, our research supports and our connection with communities supports. We're walking the walk."
UNBC's Green Fund takes partial proceeds from parking revenues to pay for lighting projects to switch to low-emission LED bulbs; it has a weekly farmers' market for students to buy locally-grown food; it has hired an energy manager and sustainability manager for its green university centre; and it has high employee participation in its annual bike-to-work-week event.
UNBC has about 300 teaching staff and close to 400 non-academic full-time employees.
