Strategic plan
Wayne State University has identified the following Strategic Focus Areas to lead the institution's collective efforts to reduce its negative impact on the world's climate. Broadly, these areas include emissions reduction, integration of carbon sinks, and ways to mitigate negative impacts on the environment and community by the way the institution operates and conducts its business. Through a materiality assessment, annual greenhouse gas inventories, stakeholder engagement, and feedback from the campus community, these 10 Strategic Focus Areas were identified as important pathways for WSU to become more sustainable in its journey to reduce its impact on the global climate. You can view the full 2023-2028 Strategic plan here: Strategic Plan
Student Senate Letter of Support
Environmental Justice
Align environmental and restorative justice efforts of the university that will lead to the prioritization of environmental justice through increased research opportunities and funding, as well as additional education opportunities.
Carbon Reduction
Reduce, balance, and offset the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with all direct and indirect institutional activities affecting emissions.
Built Environment
Integrate and emphasize a sustainable focus on the built urban area, more strictly referring to the places where the campus community lives and works.
Water Quality and Quantity
Address the institution's stormwater run-off while also managing ecological consequences, contaminants, and disease found in stormwater and wastewater in an effort to maintain the health of water and its increase in availability.
Energy
Focus, plan, and implement energy conservation measures that will reduce consumption, achieve operational efficiencies, and explore opportunities for renewable energy solutions.
Transportation and Mobility
Explore and initiate mobility solutions and advance the use of alternative transportation with supporting infrastructure that will lead to a reduction of transportation-related emissions generated from all activities associated with the campus community.
Urban Biodiversity
Preserve the vitality, variety, and variability among living organisms found around the university, and the resilience of the ecological systems in which they occur.
Sustainable Food Practices
Explore and initiate sustainable practices within the WSU food system to advance local sourcing, healthy food options, a reduction in food waste, and fair labor practices in the supply chain.
Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Composting
Initiate a systematic approach toward waste reduction and recycling that prioritizes a reduction of potential waste introduced to the campus community and identify opportunities to initiate the reuse of items more productively over their entire life cycles
Academia
Initiate collaborations and bolster existing efforts across the institution to support the growth of sustainable education within the curriculum while helping support and create an atmosphere that encourages research across the sustainability spectrum.
Previous Sustainability Plans:
2007 Final Report of the Task Force on Environmental Initiatives