Sustainability Policies at Mason

George Mason University has made great strides in the last five years towards a more sustainable campus. While there are few formalized policies in place supporting sustainability at this time, we are looking to formalize and propagate best practices across the university as they are identified. The Sustainability Office will be working with all departments within Mason to develop policies relating to all aspects of sustainability. As those policies are developed, they will be posted or linked to on this website.

Some current examples include:

• All buildings must be designed and built to a minimum LEED Silver standard
• All new office and industrial equipment purchased must be EnergySTAR rated by the EPA/DOE, where available
• Staff and faculty commuters receive commuter benefits for taking public transportation
• All local bus service is free to Mason ID holders

The administration is working on:

• enhancing its building design manual to include more stringent standards for building efficiency
• developing an environmentally preferable purchasing policy
• moving to recycled-content office paper
• working on implementing an Environmental Management System
• and many other campus-changing initiatives!

Mason completed its first Sustainability Assessment in Spring 2007. This document provided a baseline from which to develop these policies. Read the report here.

Our Commitments

From the President's Statement on Sustainability: "This important commitment serves to underscore the importance of our actions in light of growing concern about the impact of climate change and other unsustainable activities. With this commitment, we are taking the next steps on a journey into long-term sustainability for the university."

President Merten signed this call for a public debate "in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of The Environment, Health and Medicine, and Science and Technology Policy."