STARS gold for sustainability goes to Carolina
The University ranked second highest in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System.
UNC-Chapel Hill is the first R1 university to receive a gold rating under the latest version of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System.
“I’m proud of how the Sustainable Carolina team navigated the recently revised STARS process,” said Mike Piehler, chief sustainability officer. “We know the work we are doing here at Carolina matters, but taking the time to analyze our performance shows us what we’re doing well and the areas where we can improve.”
STARS 3.0 made its official debut in June 2024. This is the second major revision of the program. The new version keeps accessibility at the forefront, prioritizes performance over process and simplifies measurements.
Tracking Sustainability Progress
Sustainable Carolina staff began researching the new version in summer 2023, in preparation for data gathering and analyses.
Cindy Shea, sustainability director at Sustainable Carolina, has led the STARS process five times.
“It truly takes a village, both to complete the STARS assessment and to achieve such a high rating,” said Shea. “Documenting pan-campus progress in advancing sustainability makes me proud of my colleagues throughout the University.”
In spring 2024, Shea partnered with Lama Boujreldin, former teaching assistant professor in the environment, ecology and energy program, for an undergraduate capstone course. This gave students the opportunity to research and report on several STARS categories, such as experiential education, research hubs and student organizations.
The students also compared Carolina’s STARS performance with peer universities. They looked at high-performing gold and platinum universities to understand how campus can integrate more sustainability programming to earn more credits.
“Working with high-performing and enthusiastic students is such a joy,” said Shea. “They learned a lot about the resources and programs available at UNC, even after studying sustainability for the past four years.”
About AASHE STARS
The program requires Universities to self-report across five categories: academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership. Due to the breadth and depth of questions under these five categories, the entire Sustainable Carolina team contributed to the data collection. The team also consulted with units across the University to ensure accuracy in reporting.
The University’s first submission, in 2011, earned STARS silver. All four subsequent submissions yielded a gold rating.
