SEPTEMBER

Each year during World Green Building Week, ACTS celebrates Green Campus Day by providing the opportunity for members to showcase the buildings and other innovative features that make our campuses sustainable.

Institutions are invited to host an event on Tuesday 22 September aimed at showcasing sustainable features on your campuses.

In consideration of COVID-19 precautions, we are excited to introduce online Green Campus Day events for the first time, such as virtual tours and live event streams, as well pre-recorded video content that will be shared throughout the ACTS network. Institutions that are able to safely host onsite events are of course also welcome to do so.

Green Campus Day events and content can be freely accessed by staff, students, industry representatives and the community - all the more reason to get involved and see first hand what sustainable campuses look like!

If your institution would like to participate, please contact us now to learn more, or submit an event to be featured.

The University of Tasmania has become the first Australasian STARS rated institution, achieving a Silver rating in August 2020.

UTAS was in the first cohort of ACTS member institutions to benefit from the ACTS-AASHE collaboration to provide supported access to the STARS tool, as well as assist in further internationalisation of the tool to incorporate Australasian specific examples and requirements. The Silver rating recognises the significant efforts of UTAS staff and students over the past few years to progress their sustainability journey and identifies very clearly the opportunities for more focus to deliver holistic sustainability outcomes.
 
If you have any questions about the UTAS journey, please contact Corey Peterson, UTAS Sustainability Manager or for information on STARS or the ACTS cohort opportunities, please contact Jordan King, STARS Program Coordinator, AASHE.

WEDNESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2020, 12:30–1:30PM

Join the RMIT Sustainability Team and Dr Robyn Leeson the Vice-Chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board in a discussion around formal sustainability reporting.
 
The session will focus on RMIT as a case study and discuss the benefits of reporting using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards. It will also look at the current impacts of COVID-19 and emerging trends in sustainability reporting. 
 
Webinar speakers:

• Dr. Robyn Leeson – Vice-Chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB) – Global Reporting Initiative.
• Lin Stevenson – Senior Manager, Sustainability RMIT.

TUESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2020, 10:00 - 11.30 CET

Registrations are now open for an online WCEF side event organised by OPN SBC. This event will focus on circularity in the housing sector in relation to material use, design considerations, technology and affordability.

Panellists from India, Sri Lanka and Australia will present related projects and experiences, followed by moderated discussions. A question and answer session will be moderated by Professor Usha Iyer-Raniga, co-lead, One Planet network Sustainable Buildings and Construction programme.

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS 30 SEPTEMBER 2020

The Global University Climate Forum aims to bring together students from all corners of the world to share ideas, learn, connect, and act on the global imperative of addressing climate change. Multidisciplinary teams of students at all levels from all parts of the world are now invited to submit their ideas for climate action projects.

Applications are due by midnight EST on September 30, 2020 with accepted teams will be invited to participate in the online event series during the week of November 9, 2020. 

Following the event series, student teams will be expected to update and execute their project and report on their progress over the course of six months. Reporting will start in December 2020 and end in May 2021.

Teams that complete all three phases – application, workshop, implementation – will be featured in a presentation to be issued during COP26 in November 2021.