The CECCS Organizational Framework provides a basis for integrating operational and academic sustainability activities and for connecting disparate sustainability activities across our campuses in a fruitful way. The CECCS Organizational Framework is based on three main constituents:
2 Overarching Principles
- Regenerative Sustainability looks for net positive ways to increase both human and environmental wellbeing, instead of simply focusing on reducing environmental damage.
- Integration of Operational and Academic Sustainability looks at ways to combine research, teaching, partnerships, and operations.
4 Cross-cutting Themes
- Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) involves addressing operational sustainability issues by connecting students, faculty, staff, and potentially external partners, on CLL projects. CLL works to create opportunities for students to use the campus as a test bed for sustainability by connecting academic and operational activities.
- University as Agent of Change (AOC) involves building partnerships off-campus with organizations in the public, private, and civil society sectors, and with other universities. Through these partnerships, AOC works to contribute to the societal transitions for sustainable futures.
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which CECCS uses to orient our understanding, across all of our activities, of the many dimensions of sustainability across the campus, and to develop all of our sustainability inventories.
- Student Leadership reflects our view that students are agents of change in the university and in the world after graduation. The CECCS aims to engage students in sustainability governance, research and publications, and living lab projects on- and off-campus.
4 Subcommittees
- The Teaching & Learning (T&L) Subcommittee supports the development of sustainability curriculum pathways for every undergraduate student. It also provides guidance on instilling sustainability in community-engaged learning initiatives and student workshops.
- The Research Subcommittee aims to support and bring together sustainability researchers into a community of practice and enhance relevant research initiatives.
- The Operations Subcommittee brings together students, faculty members, staff, and external partners as applicable, to collaborate on sustainability projects with operational and academic activities.It also works on staff training initiatives and tri-campus operational collaboration and coordination.
- The Engagement & Partnerships (E&P) Subcommittee promotes U of T’s local and international sustainability partnerships.