Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	65.15
Liaison	Amber Saxton
Submission Date	Jan. 8, 2021

STARS v2.2

George Mason University
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	2.00 / 2.00	Greg Farley Director of Sustainability University Sustainability

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Local advocacy

Does the institution advocate for public policies that support campus sustainability or that otherwise advance sustainability at the municipal/local level?:

Yes

A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the municipal/local level:

George Mason University has multiple partnerships throughout the local area, and is largely involved in making the busy metropolitan area of Fairfax more sustainable. Mason’s Office of Transportation has a formal partnership with the City of Fairfax to subsidize the CUE bus, which provides a low cost public transit option for citizens and Mason students. Through this partnership, Mason administration advocated for the CUE hybrid buses, which consume less fuel and operate on electric engines to decrease greenhouse gas emission. Most recently the CUE system has been working with WMATA, the greater DC mass transit system, to better integrate local bus systems into the regional network.

Article about WMATA bus project: https://ggwash.org/view/69085/bus-transformation-2-integrate-the-regions-bus-systems

Regional advocacy

Does the institution advocate for public policies that support campus sustainability or that otherwise advance sustainability at the state/provincial/regional level?:

Yes

A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the state/provincial/regional level:

Supported by Mason leadership, the “Virginia’s Climate Future” panel, in April 2020, aimed to convey the dangers of climate change to state decision makers, including state lawmaker Rip Sullivan, the lead sponsor for the Virginia Clean Economy Act whose 48th District in the Virginia House of Delegates encompasses part of Arlington and Fairfax Counties; Karen Campblin, the co-director of Green New Deal Virginia; Supervisor James Walkinshaw of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; and Colin Nackerman, the Mason graduate student and activist who is a member of Sunrise Movement Fairfax County, a local chapter of an organization of young people dedicated to combating global climate change. The event was streamed on GMU-TV to heighten its importance.

Press Release: https://www2.gmu.edu/news/2020-09/mason-host-virginias-climate-future-panel-sept-24

National advocacy

Does the institution advocate for public policies that support campus sustainability or that otherwise advance sustainability at the national level?:

Yes

A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the national level:

1,500 American leaders have called on the Biden-Harris Administration and federal policymakers to launch a national mobilization on climate action and clean recovery. The statement calls for a net-zero trajectory for the United States, extraordinary investment in a range of sectors to promote innovation and create millions of jobs, and unprecedented partnership between the federal government and non-federal actors. George Mason University is a signatory of the 'All In' Declaration.

https://www.wearestillin.com/organization/george-mason-university

International advocacy

Does the institution advocate for public policies that support campus sustainability or that otherwise advance sustainability at the international level?:

Yes

A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the international level:

Mason leadership and other university leaders, with support of Rockefeller Foundation,launched the University Global Compact, a global platform of universities and other higher education organizations committed to working together and in partnership with the United Nations and other relevant organizations, in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals both locally and globally through our education, research and service missions.

17 Rooms-U aims to foster action-oriented SDG conversations among faculty, staff, students, and community stakeholders. In July 2018, the first 17 Rooms-U experiments were convened on the campuses of Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain, to great success. UGC convened an international 17 Rooms-U event at Rutgers University on September 23, 2019, the day after UGC’s formal global launch event in New York City, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s annual high-level events. Mason's president Anne Holton participated in this September 2019 event. Rooms-U demonstrates the long-term complexities the SDGs to accelerate the work needed to advance individual SDGs.

https://www.unglobalcompact.org/

Optional Fields

A brief description of other political positions the institution has taken during the previous three years (if applicable):

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None

A brief description of political donations the institution made during the previous three years (if applicable):

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Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability advocacy efforts is available:

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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