The 2023-2028 Sustainability Strategic Plan was created by the President's Standing Committee on Environmental Initiatives and the Office of Campus Sustainability and provides a framework that guided environmental initiatives on campus. The document represented the vision and mission of the Wayne State Strategic Plan encompassing energy conservation, waste reduction, transportation, and food systems. The ten focus areas below build upon the University's commitment to be an institution known for academic and research excellence. You can view the full 2023-2028 Plan here: 2023-2028 Sustainability 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.