2025-2036 Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan

This year, Emory is launching the creation of its third Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan. As Emory approaches its bicentennial, the Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan for 2025-2036 will establish and guide Emory’s ambitions to model transformative practices and sustainable choices at every level. Explore this page to learn more about past Sustainability Visions and the process of creating a new one.

How to Provide Input

To ensure the 2025-2036 Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan honors the entire Emory Community, your input is essential! Want help figuring out where Emory is in its sustainability journey? Take a look at the Implementation Progress Report lower on this page and then please consider participating in one of the following ways.

  • Participate in a Community Input Session: The Office of Sustainability Initiatives and Sustainability Visioning Committee are seeking the community’s input on your sustainability priorities. Three community input sessions were held during the 2024 spring semester. The sessions, facilitated by Ed Lee III, Senior Director of Inclusivity for Emory College of Arts and Sciences, give participants a chance to share their wisdom and vision for a sustainable future at Emory. Three more input session will be held in the fall of 2024. Check back here for dates and registration details.
  • Facilitate a conversation with your friends, classmates, or colleagues using a Sustainability Vision Conversation Guide: The Office of Sustainability Initiatives is currently developing Sustainability Vision Conversation Guides which will empower users to facilitate their own small group conversations about sustainability at Emory. Using the guides, Emory community members can gather with friends and colleagues, share meaningful conversation, learn from each other, and share any resulting feedback with the Office of Sustainability Initiatives and the Visioning Committee. Click here to learn more about the guides!
  • Share your input through the Sustainability Vision Input Platform: The Office of Sustainability Initiatives has created a digital platform where Emory community members will be invited to submit their input for the upcoming Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan. This platform will enable community members to share their wisdom online even if they are unable to attend any in-person input sessions or participate in any community-guided conversations. We encourage you to use the Sustainability Vision Input Platform (rather than email) to ensure your input is received and processed.
  • Stay informed! Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media for the latest developments!
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The Sustainability Visioning Committee

To complement community input and guide the creation of this new plan, a Sustainability Visioning Committee has convened under the leadership of co-chairs Robin Morey, Vice President of Campus Services, and Dr. Eri Saikawa, Winship Distinguished Research Professor of Environmental Sciences. The committee, comprised of Emory’s thought leaders and experts in sustainability, met for the first time in February of 2024. The committee will meet six times over the course of 2024 to craft new goals for the coming decade and prepare the Vision for leadership review in anticipation of its publication in 2025. Click here to learn more about our Visioning Committee members!

 

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The Sustainable Development Goals

Emory’s third Sustainability Vision will use the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, befitting our institution’s international reach and reputation. The Sustainable Development Goals, which are summarized in the infographic to the left, are 17 goals that represent the interconnected nature of environmental, social, and economic issues that support the planet, all people, and prosperous economies.

Visit the United Nations’ website to learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals. 

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The 2015-2025 Sustainability Vision

The last Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan has guided Emory through a decade of sustainability action on and around campus. You can read the Sustainability Vision for 2015-2025 here. The infographic to the left highlights the goals of the last Vision.

 

 

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The Implementation Progress Report

The creation of the upcoming Vision is an opportunity to assess Emory’s progress over the last decade while providing a foundation for our new goals for the next eleven years. The Office of Sustainability Initiatives staff has compiled an Implementation Progress Report that connects the accomplishments of the prior Sustainability Vision period to the 17 sustainable Development Goals that will organize the 2025-2036 Vision. The report provides implementation progress updates for all 91 Vision goals from the Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan for 2015-2025. You can read the Implementation Progress Report here.  If you would like to provide feedback on the Implementation Progress Report, please email us at emorysustainability@emory.edu.