Tufts University
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

Tufts' T10 Strategic Plan (2013-2023) commits to "creat[ing] physical spaces consistent with strategic initiatives and sustainability goals," including those set forth in the Campus Sustainability Council Report. The plan also highlights sustainability as one of the university's Core Commitments, stating that "we are committed to... sustainability and an understanding of its multifaceted issues and requirements which are the most basic focuses for our broader commitments to live responsibly, nurture university-wide initiatives to meet global challenges, and to be strong stewards of our own campus to ensure long-term viability as an institution." Learn more at https://provost.tufts.edu/strategic-planning/.

Diversity Dashboard - https://www.tufts.edu/strategic-themes/diversity-and-inclusion School Strategic Plans: https://provost.tufts.edu/strategic-planning/school-level-strategic-plans/ Department of Public and Environmental Safety: https://publicsafety.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017-DPES-Strategic-Plan-Final.pdf Research and Scholarship Strategic Plan: https://viceprovost.tufts.edu/research-scholarship-strategic-plan/implementation/

https://provost.tufts.edu/strategic-planning/school-level-strategic-plans/ https://nutrition.tufts.edu/strategicplan/ Friedman School: Creating and Enabling Leaders Goal IX: Mentor and develop faculty to be effective influential leaders in support of the School's mission. Develop a mentoring and development program to support professional growth of faculty at every career stage. Create an equitable structure for assessing and recognizing individual faculty contributions and merit, including for teaching, research, service, and public impact. Create systems to help faculty attain and maintain a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives. Enhance the current faculty governance system to make it more participatory, integrated, and empowered. Goal X: Expand and diversify our student body to train future leaders in nutrition science, policy, and practice. Optimize flexibility in academic programs and course schedules to accommodate a diverse student body. Expand the School's appeal to new audiences with varying career goals and experiences by considering new degrees, academic programs, and pathway programs. Establish a recruitment, financial aid, and student support system that builds and promotes success of a racially/ethnically and economically diverse student populations and provides students from typically underrepresented populations with the opportunity for a Friedman School education. Goal XI: Create a continuum of academic and professional development to support students and alumni in the dynamic fields of nutrition science and policy. Strengthen the processes for review of curricular and professional development to ensure that our offerings reflect the knowledge and skills that our students will need following graduation. Leverage the breadth of expertise within the school to provide our students with a unique perspective and competitive edge, offering an integrated education across biologic, quantitative, social science, and policy domains. Establish a career development strategy that serves the full range of student and alumni professional goals. Offer robust continuing education opportunities to alumni and alternative student and professional audiences.

https://viceprovost.tufts.edu/research-scholarship-strategic-plan/implementation/ The measurable sustainability objectives in this plan are the implementation and funding of research in five key areas along a specified timeline available in the link above. The five primary areas of interest are Climate, Food, Water, and Energy; Comparative Global Humanities; Equitable Society; Living Technology; and One Health. Details on each is available here: https://viceprovost.tufts.edu/research-scholarship-strategic-plan/priority-area-working-groups/

https://as.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/StrategicPlan.pdf "We propose that all new buildings and major renovations include gathering spaces and lounges and, where appropriate, options for refreshments to help establish a vibrant intellectual community." "The intellectual community of Arts and Sciences must be as diverse as possible in order to maximize the experience that Tufts can offer its members. The President’s Council on Diversity has recently completed a large-scale, in-depth study of the many dimensions of diversity at Tufts. We support the council’s various findings and recommendations as they relate to faculty, staff, and students."

https://tischcollege.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/Tisch-College-Strategic-Plan.pdf Practice—applying knowledge Tisch College applies knowledge to improve democracy and civic life, and to engage citizens in addressing shared problems. We strive for impact in communities and in higher education: • Promote civic practices at Tufts, such as increased recognition of faculty for civically engaged research,teaching, and public service • Strengthen local and national partnerships with community-based organizations, schools, and government agencies • Expand our global reach through a stronger relationship with the Talloires Network, an international association committed to the civic role of higher education around the world

As part of the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Climate Change Action Plan, Tufts is committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 10-25% below 1990 levels by 2020. Tufts signed on to the Second Nature Climate Commitment in 2016, committing the university to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Office of Environmental Health and Safety Initiatives EHS Initiative 1 Continue to strengthen environmental health and safety by supporting the development of new programs. Target Completion Date: FY19 Active Fiscal Year/Funding: TBD Action Plan: • Centralize biological waste management, administration, budgeting and control – FY19 • Develop and implement an asbestos location/removal tracking program – FY19 • Support the need for a university-wide lab safety committee – In progress, ongoing • Implement a university-wide chemical inventory system – In progress, ongoing • Establish a university-wide occupational and student health services program – FY19 • Establish a formal safety policy adoption process to support the implementation of university-wide health and safety policies – FY19 • Identify and implement hazardous waste facility solutions for the Michael Pearson and 4 Colby facilities – FY19 https://publicsafety.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017-DPES-Strategic-Plan-Final.pdf

The Boston Campus is required by the City of Boston's Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance to complete an energy assessment or major energy savings action by May 15, 2019.

Tufts is collaborating on a project to help meet a New England sustainable regional agriculture objective: "Tufts, Harvard, and Boston College are coming together to support sustainable regional agriculture by investing in New England farms that can help them provide fresh, seasonable vegetables in their dining halls throughout the academic year. The three schools, all of which operate independent dining services, outlined their collaborative model in a proposal that was recently awarded one of five New England Food Vision Prizes from the Henry P. Kendall Foundation. The prizes are part of a larger plan to achieve a goal of producing at least 50 percent of New England’s food in the region by 2060. The three universities will distribute the $250,000 prize money in small grants to regional farmers who want to expand their farmland or prolong the short growing season by, for example, constructing passively vented, solar-heated greenhouses. The proposal also will extend the viability for using root vegetables by developing new cold storage options." https://now.tufts.edu/articles/building-sustainable-sources-fresh-produce?utm_source=Tufts+Now+-+Faculty+and+Staff&utm_campaign=911baa23a2-Tufts_Now_external_170927_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e2c82ed1e3-911baa23a2-207434609

Campus Sustainability Council Report 2013 - https://sustainability.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Sustainability-Council-Report-2013-Final.pdf GOAL: Reduce waste by 3 percent each year, on average, through source reduction, waste management strategies, and behavior change. Objective 1: Through careful planning and consistent enforcement of purchasing policies and practices, reduce the source of Tufts’ waste and increase the percentage of purchased products that are recyclable and otherwise environmentally preferable in order to support a cradle-to-cradle economy. Recommended Strategies A. Improve, expand, and continually update procurement guidelines to assist buyers in purchasing environmentally preferable products. · Publish a university “statement of guidance” clarifying purchasing priorities, and reach out to people who make large purchases in each school to make sure the priorities are understood. · Engage administration and financial decision makers to help communicate these priorities to their departments and reach procurement card (PCard) users who make purchases outside of the central purchasing system. · Train and educate decentralized buyers in all departments. B. Target disposables, supplies, and equipment for reduction, focusing first on products purchased in highest volume. · Reduce the use of disposables. · Provide readily accessible alternatives to disposable products. · Eliminate non-recyclable materials. · Foster behavior change (e.g., paperless meetings). C. Establish guidelines and policies for contractors and vendors. · Use a collaborative mechanism involving key stakeholders to establish relevant guidelines and policies for non-Tufts entities doing business on behalf of Tufts. · Communicate changes in purchasing policies to vendors in a clear manner. · Encourage vendors to update their offerings of environmentally preferable product choices and packaging. · Identify key contracts to review, track, and target for compliance, and notify vendors that spot checks may be performed. · Require vendors to provide reports that track trends and flag areas of opportunity, especially with PCard purchases. · Create incentive programs that include internal promotion and preferred partnerships for exemplary vendors.

2013 Campus Sustainability Council Report https://sustainability.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Sustainability-Council-Report-2013-Final.pdf Energy & Emissions Goal #5: Develop transportation initiatives to reduce impacts of campus vehicles. In 2015 a transportation demand management study was completed and is available at http://sustainability.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/TDM-Report-April-2015.pdf.

Reduce waste by 3% each year on average, through source reduction, waste management strategies, and behavior change. Campus Sustainability Council Report 2013 https://sustainability.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Sustainability-Council-Report-2013-Final.pdf

The recommendations presented in the Report of the Council on Diversity include hiring a chief diversity officer; increasing financial aid to attract and retain talented students who traditionally have not considered Tufts; examining curricula and other programs to ensure they support diversity and inclusion; and articulating more clearly how central these values are to Tufts’ mission and vision. A full list of recommendations can be found in the report: http://president.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Council-on-Diversity-Final-Report-December-2013.pdf https://provost.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Tufts-Strategic-Plan-Full-Report-web.pdf "Implement emerging diversity and inclusion recommendations" is a Diversity and Inclusion goal in the 10 year strategic plan, recommending adherence to recommendations from the Council on Diversity.

Five “key areas of opportunity” have been identified through the “Health Plan Scorecard” developed by Willis Towers Watson. These areas are: Cancers, Musculoskeletal, Mental Health, Metabolic, and Pharmacy. In collaboration with our vendors, we develop an annual HR Benefits Outreach and Wellness calendar of events to target these areas with the goals of: (1) reducing the financial impact to the University and its employees realized in medical expenses, (2) providing opportunities for preventative screenings and services (flu clinics, biometric screenings, pre-diabetes screening, on-site mammography van, bone density screenings, etc.), (3) increasing employee engagement (health coaching services, Tufts Health Plan case management, Comprehensive Health Reviews, Weight Management series, Mindfulness series, Physical Activity Challenges, etc.) (4) creating an educated consumer who is knowledgeable of the benefits and services offered at Tufts University and how to access them

The idea of sustainability, as we understand it, was developed to describe human practices that actively protect and do not negatively affect the earth's natural ecosystem’s ability to support healthy biological systems and human well-being now and in the future.

Talloires Declaration: http://ulsf.org/talloires-declaration/ Environmental Policy: https://sustainability.tufts.edu/sustainability-at-tufts/our-commitments/commitments/environmental-policy/ Kyoto Protocol: https://unfccc.int/process/the-kyoto-protocol New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers: http://www.coneg.org/regional-climate-initiative MA Global Warming Solutions Act: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2008/Chapter298 Waste Reduction by 3% Each Year: https://sustainability.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/Sustainability-Council-Report-2013-Final.pdf Health Educators' Climate Commitment: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/04/fact-sheet-health-educators-climate-commitment Second Nature Climate Commitment: https://sustainability.tufts.edu/sustainability-at-tufts/our-commitments/commitments/second-nature-climate-commitment/ Energy Consumption Reduction: Tufts University will reduce energy consumption 5 to 7 percent per year for three years starting in 2013 with additional targets set for consumption reduction in 2016. White House Educators Commitment on Resilient Design: http://www.acsa-arch.org/acsa-news/read/read-more/acsa-news/2016/10/06/acsa-schools-join-white-house-educators-commitment-on-resilient-design City of Boston Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance: https://www.boston.gov/departments/environment/building-energy-reporting-and-disclosure-ordinance#action-and-assessment-requirement https://sustainability.tufts.edu/sustainability-at-tufts/our-commitments/commitments/

For additional information on sustainability planning, see https://sustainability.tufts.edu/sustainability-at-tufts/progress-reports/