Northern Michigan University Earns a Gold STARS Rating

Northern Michigan University earns a Gold STARS rating for its sustainability practices. Recently Northern Michigan University was recognized as a STARS Gold Institution by the Association of Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. STARS stands for Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System. NMU’s score was earned based on its academic performance, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovations and leadership. The university’s move up from its silver status to gold, says Assistant Vice President of sustainability jes Thompson, starts with institutional investment, and lining the university’s policies to match its core values. Northern Michigan hopes to become carbon neutral by 2050. The plan helped boost the university’s status from silver to gold, as well as an effort to track greenhouse gas emissions on campus better. The university’s board of trustees has also set a goal to divest the school’s endowment fund from the fossil fuel industry by 2028. The STARS program has more the 1200 participating institutions across the globe, in 52 different countries. Those interested in learning more about Northern Michigan University earning a GOLD STARS rating in Sustainability from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education can find more here.