YU's got green. Do you? Learn how our students and our institution are working together to cut carbon emissions and be more environmentally friendly.

What is sustainability?

• Condensed definition: The lowest cradle-to-grave impact.
• Design Ecology Project definition: Sustainability is a state or process that can be maintained indefinitely. The principles of sustainability integrate three closely intertwined elements—the environment, the economy and the social system—into a system that can be maintained in a healthy state indefinitely.
• Bruntland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development) of the United Nations: Development is sustainable "if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
• American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) definition: Sustainability involves "providing for the needs of the present without detracting from the ability to fulfull the needs of the future."

Fun YU Sustainability Facts

In 2011, Yeshiva University received a "B" overall from SEI's Green Report Card, with an "A" in student involvement.

The Environmental Club has recieved multiple grants from organizations such as the UN Foundation and Hazon.

Yeshiva University signed the American College and University President's Climate Commitment in 2007 and published its first Climate Action Plan in 2010.

By 2020, Yeshiva University will have reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.

YU has a paid Eco Rep program for undergraduate students teaching environmental stewardship with hands on individual projects.

YU and Albert Einstein College of Medicine was awarded over $1 million dollars in grant money, in the past two years, for energy efficiency projects.

Yeshiva has two annual environmental contests, YU Unplugged, an energy conservation competition and Recyclemania, an international recycling competition.