About our inventories

Since 2017, the Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (CECCS) has managed several sustainability-related inventories at U of T. We are among the first higher education institutions to manage and maintain a publicly accessible sustainability course inventory. 

Our inventories are primarily designed as a resource for the U of T community and our partners to explore the university’s collection of sustainability-related courses, theses, projects and student clubs, and to spark engagement. We also share this information for other institutions that are looking to do something similar.

Internally, our inventories help us identify and assess the extent of sustainability learning content in the existing curriculum, validate and promote sustainability-related assets, and support research, analysis and administrative decision-making.

Our Methodology

The inventories use keyword search and categorizes entries based on 388 keywords drawn from:

• A keyword search of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
• Additional keywords from the UN Global Indicator Framework for the SDGs
• Keywords related to Indigenous worldviews and equity, diversity and inclusion that are not immediately obvious in the SDG framework

Overly broad keywords have been removed to reduce false positives. To learn more about our methodology, view our journal article in Sustainability.

View our keyword taxonomy below.

Keyword Taxonomy

affordab*, developing country, disparity, homeless, income distribution, low income, low-income, poverty, precarious, precarity, pro-poor, social safety, socio economic, socio-economic, socioeconomic, vulnerability, wealth distribution, welfare

access and benefit sharing (ABS), agricultur*, agro*, benefit sharing, biodynamic, child hunger, culinary, end hunger, food culture, food education, food insecurity, food justice, food literacy, food price, food scarcity, food security, food sovereignty, food system, food-secure, indigenous crops, malnutrition, nutrition, organic food, permaculture, regenerative agriculture, urban agriculture, zero hunger

child health, communicable disease, disabilit*, epidemics, family planning, global health, hazardous chemicals, health care, health determinants, health education, health equity, health issues, healthcare, holism, illness, infant mortality, maternal mortality, mental health, mental wellness, mindfulness, neonatal mortality, pollution, public health, reproductive health, road traffic accidents, sexual education, substance abuse, universal health coverage, vaccine, well being, well-being, wellbeing

accessible education, anti-discriminatory, anti-oppression, anti-racism, anticolonial, basic literacy, citizen, climate change education, decolonial*, early childhood development, ecojustice education, education for sustainable development, environmental education, equitable, equity, free education, humane education, knowledge, knowledges, land-based knowledge, land-based learning, learning, nature-based education, oppression, peace, pedagogy, place-based education, place-based knowledge, primary education, racism, secondary education, settler, sustainability education, sustainability teaching, technical learning, tertiary education, traditional knowledge, universal literacy, universal numeracy, vocational, worldview

female, feminis*, forced marriage, gender, gender equality, girl, LGBTQ*, non binary, non-binary, patriarchy, queer, sexes, trafficking, transgender, two-spirit, violence against women, women

arid, contamination, desalination, desertification, drought, green infrastructure, groundwater depletion, hydrological cycle, hygien*, latrines, living infrastructure water education, low impact development, open defecation, remediation, sanita*, sewage water scarcity, stormwater management, untreated wastewater, water, water and energy nexus, water efficiency, water filtration, water harvesting

biofuel, carbon capture, emission*, energy, energy education, energy security, energy sovereignty, fuel efficient, fuel-efficient, geothermal, greenhouse, hydroelectric, renewabl*, solar, wind

economic empowerment, economic growth, economic recovery, employment, entrepreneur*, green growth, green job, labor, labour, small- and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, sustainable development, sustainable growth, sustainable tourism, wage, worker, youth employment

affordable credit, buildings, capital, globalis*, globaliz*, industrial diversification, Industrialization, infrastructure, internet, invest*, value chain

affordab*, anti-discriminatory, anti-oppressive, anti-racist, BIPOC, decolonization, disparity, equal access, equalit*, equit*, financial market, Gini, government program, humanitarian, impoverished, income, indigenous, inequality, marginalised, marginalized, minorit*, of color, of colour, privileged, reconciliation, refugee, social safety, social security, taxation, trade, truth and reconciliation, underserved, vulnerable population

accessib*, affordable housing, cities*, civic spaces, climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation, green buildings, housing green infrastructure, indigenous placekeeping, indigenous placemaking, low impact development, metro*, open spaces, public transport*, resilien*, rural, sustainable development, transit, urban, walkab*

carbon pricing, carbon tax, consum*, decarbonis*, decarboniz*, food waste, fossil fuel subsidies, industrial ecology, natural resource*, offshor*, outsourc*, production, public procurement, recycl*, reuse, supply chain, sustainable design, waste

anthropocene, anthropogenic, carbon dioxide, carbon markets, carbon neutral, carbon sequestration, carbon trading, carbon-neutral, climate, climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation, climate finance, climate impacts, climate justice, climate positive, climate scenarios, climate solutions, CO2, emissions, environmental, fossil fuel, global climate models carbon capture, global warming, greenhouse gas, loss and damage, low carbon, methane, net zero, net-zero, offsets, Paris, planet, resilience, sea level, UNFCCC, vegan, vegetarian, weather

animal, biodivers*, conserv*, coral, fish, fish stocks, marine, maritime, natural habitat, ocean, ocean literacy ecosystem, overfish*, pollut*, species, sustainable use, traditional use

animal, benefit sharing, biodivers*, carbon capture, carbon sequestration, conserv*, deforestation, ecolog*, endangered species ecosystem, erosion, flora and fauna, forest, forest conservation, habitat loss, land ecological restoration, land use, natural habitat, pollut*, reforestation, regeneration, resilience, soil, species, sustainable and traditional use, wildlife

access and benefit sharing, authoritarian, bribe*, corrupt*, criminal justice, democra*, democratic rights, ecojustice, exploitation, governance, human rights, illicit, indigenous, indigenous rights, injustice, institut*, judic*, legal system, nationalism, organized crime, peace, prior and informed consent, rule of law, self-determination sovereignty violence, social change, social justice, terroris*, torture, trafficking, UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples), voter rights