In 2011, the Campus Sustainability Committee expanded on the goals sets in the Climate Action Plan by developing the Sustainability Strategic Plan (SSP). The SSP assesses the baseline and develops targets for other elements of campus sustainability such as water, waste and recycling, food, procurement, and natural resources. 

Sustainability Strategic Plan Goals

  • Emissions: Aggressively pursue carbon neutrality in 2024 and beyond through a combination of direct emission reduction strategies and carbon offsets.
  • Energy: Achieve a 20% reduction in energy use in buildings built prior to Duke's 2009 Climate Action Plan by 2030 while maximizing opportunities for building energy efficiency and low carbon construction of new buildings.
  • Buildings: Ensure all new construction and major renovations comply with Duke's High Performance Building Framework and meet campus goals for energy and water efficiency.
  • Water: Focus water-reduction strategies on the top 20 water-consuming buildings, which account for 70% of water use on campus.
  • Natural Resources: Ensure that buildings, landscapes, and natural areas are created and sustained to create a campus community that conserves natural resources, restores environmental quality, and protects biodiversity.
  • Food: Create a model food campus that is health-promoting, ecologically minded, resilient, diverse, fair, economically balanced, and transparent.
  • Transportation: Explore and implement opportunities to reduce barriers to alternative transportation modes and reduce the campus drive-alone rate.
  • Waste and Recycling: Create meaningful targets for waste diversion and reduce overall campus waste stream.
  • Procurement: Revise Duke's current environmentally preferable purchasing policy to make it more accessible and useful for campus purchasers while exploring opportunities to further green Duke's supply chain. 
  • Education: Incorporate sustainability into the depth and breadth of every student's experience by including core concepts of sustainability in every applicable field and research opportunity and by using the campus as a living laboratory.
  • Communication: Enhance understanding and foster changes in behavior among members of the Duke community that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Past Sustainability Strategic Plan Progress Reports

Each year, a progress report is developed to highlight progress on goals as well as outline anticipated work the following year. Progress reports from the past are located below: