The Nation's Top Sustainable Colleges

The Sustainable Endowments Institute, which is affiliated with the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, recently published the College Sustainability Report Card 2010. The report card features data on 332 colleges, with all of the data available to the public on GreenReportCard.org. The nation’s top sustainable colleges were named based on several criteria including campus buildings, dining and student initiatives, endowment investment, transportation, and much more.

Each college was given a letter grade in each of the categories on the Sustainable Endowments Institute survey. Out of the 332 educational institutions that participated in the survey, 26 received a score of A-, the highest grade achieved by any school.

A few of the names on the list also appeared in other green college lists released earlier in 2009. In July, The Princeton Review released its Green College Honor Roll, which recognized 15 of the nation’s greenest colleges. In August, Sierra magazine published its own list of the nation’s top 20 green colleges.

Of the top 26 green schools on the College Sustainability Report Card 2010 list, six also appeared in The Princeton Review and Sierra magazine top green college lists.

• Arizona State University – Tempe
• College of the Atlantic
• Harvard University
• University of New Hampshire
• University of Washington – Seattle
• Yale University

Arizona State University-Tempe received an A in nearly every category but the school’s B grade in Endowment Transparency and C grade in Investment Priorities pulled the school’s overall grade down. According to the report card, ASU doesn’t invest in renewable energy or community development loan funds.

The College of the Atlantic is doing great in climate change and energy measures but the school’s green building program has room for improvement. There are three LEED certified, Energy Star labeled buildings on campus but more green building measures will bring this school’s score up in next year’s report.

Like ASU, Harvard University received an A grade in nearly every category but the B in student involvement and green building as well as the C in endowment transparency brought the university’s overall grade down to an A-.