UCI named top doctoral university, U.S. institution in AASHE’s sustainability index
Three more campus buildings also receive LEEDS Platinum certification
UCI has been recognized as the No. 1 doctoral institution and No. 1 U.S. institution in the 2022 Sustainable Campus Index.
The 2022 Sustainable Campus Index, a publication of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), recognizes top-performing colleges and universities in 17 sustainability impact areas, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS).
AASHE’s STARS program is the most widely recognized report card in the world for rating sustainability performance in higher education. UCI is a two-time recipient of the AASHE STARS Platinum rating and currently holds the highest score ever obtained by a participating institution.
UCI received the following top recognitions:
Overall Top Performer
#1 – Doctoral Institutions
#1 – International (top-scoring institution in the U.S.)
Top Performer – By Category
#1 – Buildings
#3 (tie) – Coordination & Planning
#10 (tie) – Curriculum
#5 (tie) – Investment & Finance
#7 – Public Engagement
#1 (tie) – Research
Top Performer – Data Accuracy
#7 – Recognized for submitting a report with the fewest data accuracy issues, at 96.2 percent accuracy.
Leader in LEED Platinum new construction certifications
Three new buildings at UCI received LEED Platinum certification in the 2020-2021 calendar year. The university currently has 32 LEED new construction certified buildings. Of these buildings, 21 are LEED Platinum, and 11 are LEED Gold. The Susan & Henry Samueli Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building is the most recently certified building and includes a pedestrian walkway, new bicycle path and plentiful bicycle racks. The roof area has a high solar reflectance index, meaning the “heat-island effect” is reduced for the building and surrounding area. Indoor plumbing fixtures have been designed to reduce potable water use by more than 40 percent compared to the national Uniform Plumbing Code baseline, which equates to saving about 80,000 gallons per year.
