Why a Pledge?

One of the main barriers to sustainable action is the feeling that “I’m just one person”. That alone, our actions will not have a significant impact.

In reality we are not alone. Yale University is a community of over 21,000 people. Yale is committed to developing and implementing best practices for a sustainable Yale campus. But we need to work together to achieve this.

The Sustainability Pledge celebrates that our individual actions can contribute to the vision of a sustainable Yale campus. It is a collective statement about the importance of incorporating sustainability into our lives and our work, as individuals, as a university, and as a society.

The Sustainability Pledge encourages individual commitment to sustainability, empowering us to understand the social and ecological consequences of our actions. In this way, we can choose our course of action, and together, make a difference.

None of the actions are mandatory; instead we encourage you to tell us about the great things you are already doing, and commit to at least three new things that you feel are within your capacity to do.

In taking the pledge, you commit to start now. There is no day like today to make sustainable change.

In joining the pledge, you also commit to raise awareness and promote the pledge to at least three others. The more people who join, the bigger our collective impact will be!

Yale’s Sustainability Commitment

Yale University is committed to developing best practices that balance economic viability with ecosystem health and human health in its operational practices, the built environment and institutional decision making while contributing leading scholarship, research and educational models to a global dialogue.

www.yale.edu/sustainability
Sustainability means different things to different people. One way of thinking about it is a balance between human health, ecosystem health and human health.

Yale is committed to environmental best practice to create a sustainable campus. But each and every one of us is a part of that campus, and form an integral part of any strategy.

President Levin’s Commitments to Campus Sustainability

“Every one of us on campus has a role to play in helping achieve [Yale’s] goal [of GHG emission reductions], by conserving energy and by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that flow from its use.” – 2005 Statement on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy

“I urge you to live in better harmony with this small planet’s resources than prior generations have.  And I urge you, as global citizens, to promote the prosperity and improved health of your own generation in a manner that is sustainable, in the sense that future generations will have at least as much opportunity to enjoy the fruits of the environment and the fruits of their own potential as we ourselves enjoy.” –2008 Baccalaureate Address, "Life on a Small Planet"

Yale’s Climate Initiative

What is Climate Change?
Mitigating global climate change is recognized as one of the most pressing issues facing society today. Acknowledging its unique position to play a leadership role in addressing this global challenge, Yale University is committed to a greenhouse gas reduction target of 43% below 2005 levels by 2020.

Yale University has established a fifteen-year strategic plan to take responsibility for its emissions and will focus on reducing those emissions through a combination of increasing the efficiency of on-campus energy production and distribution, energy conservation, on-site renewable energy resources, and sustainable standards for new construction and large renovations.

• History of Yale’s commitment
• What’s Included?
• Developing a Climate Action Plan
• Climate Change & the Office of the President
• Executive Summaries 2006 & 2007

Yale’s Climate Initiative is grounded in four areas: Conservation and Community Engagement; Sustainable Design and Construction; Campus Energy Production and Distribution; and Renewable and Alternative Fuels. In addition, Yale’s success relies upon the leadership and participation of the Yale community to meet this target, and reduce emissions in other ways.