Gold Stars for Duke Sustainability Efforts

Duke's co-curricular efforts toward sustainability have been rated Gold by a new rating system from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Like the LEED system for buildings, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) gives ratings of Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. Duke has earned a Gold rating with a score of 65.74 from an evaluation of three main categories - Curriculum and Research; Operations; and Planning, Administration and Engagement. STARS organizers say the new ratings system has been developed by the universities and colleges themselves to be a more comprehensive method for assessing sustainable policies. "Our participation in STARS will allow us to better assess where we have room to improve our sustainability efforts on campus as well as how we compare to our peer institutions," said Duke sustainability director Tavey Capps. "Hopefully, STARS will also provide opportunities for students to review the sustainability attributes of their prospective choices for higher education." Duke scored well on the STARS evaluation of water reduction and co-curricular sustainability efforts, but had some room for improvement in air travel and waste reduction. The report is publicly available on the AASHE STARS website, https://stars.aashe.org/institutions/duke-university-nc/report/2011-01-31/