Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

SUSTAINABILITY

Thompson Rivers University becomes first Canadian institution certified double platinum for sustainability

Nov 21, 2022 | 4:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — On Monday (Nov. 21), Thompson Rivers University announced it has been awarded the prestigious Platinum rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System, or STARS program.

2022 marks the second time TRU has achieved this honour, with the first coming in 2018. That makes TRU the first Canadian University, and just the sixth institution worldwide, to join the double-platinum club.

The university has to submit a report covering 64 areas of sustainability. According to James Gordon, Manager of Sustainability Services with TRU, writing that report is a rigorous undertaking.

“They’re always adjusting and making it more rigorous,” Gordon explains. “You can’t just cut and paste. There were probably nine people authoring various sections, to get all the marks. Then the STARS folks, we send them [the report] section by section. They have a process to make sure — it’s a rigorous system — and they’ll either say, ‘Okay’ or, ‘Not sure on this,’ and they’ll have questions on various things. Then we’ll address those and then resubmit.”

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Sustainability efforts will be bolstered in the future, as the university, the City of Kamloops and Creative Energy are working on a district energy partnership. The collaboration would see an energy facility built that would provide sustainable heating services to many buildings on campus, including the Tournament Capital Centre.

“It will reduce fossil fuel use to heat all campus buildings by over 90 per cent, compared to 2020 levels,” Gordon explains. “That’s when it’s finished in 2030.”

For more information on TRU’s efforts towards increased sustainability, or to read the institution’s STARS report, you can click here.