Sustainable development, here and now

Earth Day is a call to action. The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals are a roadmap for collective progress. Unfortunately, these goals are seen by a significant proportion of our society—particularly young people—as almost unattainable. Yet many solutions exist already, and the challenge is to scale-up our actions far beyond current levels. Universities can be excellent laboratories for demonstrating the impact of innovative practices that are already producing results. Government policies and investments must in turn drive technology adoption and scale up. At the Université de Sherbrooke, we use a comprehensive, integrated approach to demonstrate that sustainable development can be achieved right here, right now. Our committed community has implemented numerous ongoing initiatives on our campuses to reduce our carbon footprint, preserve biodiversity, and pursue research and development on efficient energy uses. Partners—from industry to government—have been essential to our success. Pierre Cossette is a member of the Board of Universities Canada. Michel Caron photograph courtesy of the Université de Sherbrooke Here are some concrete examples. The Université de Sherbrooke has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 77 per cent since 2002, and this despite doubling its physical footprint and a nearly 70 per cent increase in its student population. It also achieved carbon neutrality in 2022 by offsetting the declining balance of net emissions from its operations with certified carbon credits. Since 2004, an agreement with the Société de transport de Sherbrooke has given the student community free access to public transit in the city of Sherbrooke, Que., encouraging both the use of public transit and active modes of transportation. On the research side, our expertise in incorporating glass residues into concrete has led to new industry standards that will considerably reduce the carbon footprint associated with producing concrete—a material requiring a highly energy-intensive production process. Recovering over 70 per cent of the heat given off by our computer servers helps to heat our buildings, and rationed water management through heat loops has reduced water use on our campuses by over 75 per cent. In addition, the forthcoming designation of the Parc-du-Mont-Bellevue—an important biodiversity site in the heart of the City of Sherbrooke and on our campus—as a nature reserve will preserve this ecosystem and stimulate societally beneficial research projects. Demonstrating that sustainable development is possible and that results are achievable now could not be more important. To achieve our goals, we need to tackle them systematically, and integrate sustainability into all our management processes, from construction and procurement to teaching and research. As a matter of fact, we’re making rapid progress on incorporating sustainable development related objectives into all the university’s degree programs. Universities can and want to be key partners in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Université de Sherbrooke’s experience—which earned the institution the world’s highest STARS score in 2023—is an elegant example of what is possible. However, despite all our progress, there is still a lot to do. Universities across Canada are generating solutions to support green technology development and deployment. Budget 2024 made welcome investments in research that will allow us to do more. It also invested in promoting green innovations. But for too long support for industry to adopt environmental practises and technologies has been siloed from university research-driven solutions. What is needed is for the government to incentivize and compel collaborative research between industry and universities that generates solutions which can be adopted at scale. We are all citizens of the same planet, and we can all take action now. By scaling up our successful initiatives we can and will step up the pace considerably to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Pierre Cossette, Rector, Université de Sherbrooke and member of the Board of Universities Canada. The Hill Times