STARS

STARS Reporting

STARS is Cornell University's annual public sustainability reporting mechanism. Cornell reports on 1,000s of sustainability progress metrics every year. See our progress in diversity and inclusion, food, sustainability courses, green buildings, and more.
 

2019 STARS Highlights

Gold Rating: 73.84pts

2019 Full STARS Report 

The Gold Rating was achieved for the 8^th consecutive year.  The score has increased 7% in the last two years; the University has received a Gold rating every year of participation.

Areas of Progress

#1 for Ivy Institutions and New York State
Cornell had the highest ranking of any Ivy league institution, and highest overall ranking of any institution in New York State.  However, of the "Ivy+" institutions, Cornell ranks second after Stanford University, which has achieved a Platinum rating.

1st in Coordination & Planning  
Cornell had the highest ranking of any Ivy league institution, and highest overall ranking of any institution in New York State.

13th in Diversity & Affordability 
Cornell was listed as 13th in the country for Diversity and Affordability, and 2nd for campuses in New York State. 

Sustainability Course Offerings Cornell offers 886 courses with sustainability content, and launched an Environment & Sustainability major open to all disciplines. Cornell also earns full credit for the category of "Campus as a Living Laboratory", utilizing campus for applied learning and research in relation to Air and Climate.  Over 480 faculty and staff are engaged in sustainability research as well. Cornell Sustainability Courses 

Commuting
Over 90% of Cornell students, both graduate and undergraduate, use sustainable or alternative transportation options as their primary means of mobility across campus, to work and class.

Areas for Improvement

Investing Only 1.68% of the investment pool is in positive sustainability investments (Cornell ranks 143rd in the Investment & Finance category).  Historically, the score in Investment is one of the lowest for Cornell's STARS report. However, this is true across higher education - sustainable investment continues to be an area of collective improvement. Cornell scores 1.6% and the average national score is 16.72% in this category.

Wellbeing Cornell currently scores only 47% in this area, up from our 2018 score of 39%.  Human Resources has recently launched a new Wellbeing Framework and many partners on campus are working on overall health and wellbeing programs.

Food and Beverage Purchasing We only score 7% in this sub-category, losing credit for spending 71% of total dining services food and beverage expenditures on conventional animal products. However, 90% of dairy purchases are local (a significant portion from Cornell Dairy itself) and 27% of fresh produce is from within 250 miles of Cornell. 

Office Paper Purchasing  42% score overall. Only 12.3% of office paper expenditures go towards 90-100% post-consumer recycled paper, or FSC Recycled label paper. 

Waste This is one of the few areas where Cornell's performance has decreased over time.  Due to recycling changes in the county and country, and lack of engagement across campus, the current score is 63%, with over 660 lbs of waste generated per campus community member each year.

Previous Reports