Building and balancing societal well-being, ecological integrity, and economic prosperity — now and into the future.
UNC Chapel Hill’s Sustainability Hub
Housed within UNC Institute for the Environment, Sustainable Carolina advances the University’s sustainability goals through collaborative partnerships across operations, academics, and research. As UNC-Chapel Hill’s sustainability hub, the group aims to lead sustainability innovation, facilitate transformative action, and nurture educational efforts.
The University’s Climate Action Plan lays out innovative strategies to achieve Carolina’s 2040 carbon neutrality goal. Through the Champion Sustainability Fund, the team is working toward a more sustainable campus, while also investing in its future. And across the state, students at UNC Institute for the Environment field sites immerse themselves in research that extends outside the confines of Chapel Hill, empowering out-of-the-box thinking to overcome our greatest challenges.
Useful Links
Strategic Framework: Written in 2022 with input from the Sustainability Council, this document details our mission, vision, and goals.
2022 Sustainability Report: Contains greenhouse gas emissions data for 2021, along with information on campus operations, student organizations, research, academics, experiential learning, and community engagement activities.
2022 Water Plan: The Water Plan reviews the University’s water history, partnership with OWASA, and goals for water conservation on campus.
Celebration of Undergraduate Research | Sustainability Awards
May 3, 2023
For the first time, Sustainable Carolina awarded students prizes for excellent sustainability research at the Celebration of Undergraduate Research. UNC Institute for the Environment Associate Director Susan Cohen and Ileana Fenwick, a UNC Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences doctoral student, judged 17 research posters at the annual event, hosted by…
Alex Lassiter | Placing a Premium on Sustainability
April 18, 2023
Condiment packets from your favorite fast food restaurants are notoriously un-recyclable. On a recent episode of his company’s podcast, Alex Lassiter ’10 sat down with Missy Schapphok, a member of his advisory board. Together, they unpacked the challenges of flexible film packets. Schapphok, Taco Bell’s director of global nutrition and…
CleanTech Summit: 7 things we learned
March 29, 2023
UNC Institute for the Environment hosted the 2023 CleanTech Summit on March 27 and 28. The Sustainable Carolina team worked as exhibitors at the event and also attended sessions across the conference’s eight different tracks. Below, our team shares the significant sustainability-related ideas we learned from specific panelists. Keynote…
Upcoming Events
There are no upcoming events at this time.