Sustainability STARS

The American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has developed the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a “transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance”. STARS provides a valuable tool for measuring the sustainability measures and initiatives being developed by Amherst College year by year, as well as developing an understanding of where the school fits within the context of our peer institutions.

Over the past 5 years, the Office of Environmental Sustainability has worked to collect data on the sustainability performance of the college, covering a wide variety of categories ranging from green and renewable energy use in campus operations to the diversity of the student body and affordability of an Amherst education. The Amherst STARS report was submitted to AASHE in March of this year, and was awarded the Silver ranking, alongside schools like Swarthmore College, Carleton College, and Yale University. We are thrilled to have completed the report, and will continue to work on creating an even more sustainable campus as the Office of Environmental Sustainability develops more resources and initiatives for the students, faculty and staff of the college.

The Amherst report, along with those of all schools with published STARS reports can be found at https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/participants-and-reports/

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