With its Climate & Sustainability Strategy 2025-2030, McGill has renewed its commitment to mitigating climate change, reducing pollution and protecting biodiversity, and has detailed how it plans to advance those priorities.
This is McGill’s fourth climate and sustainability strategy since 2014. It was the subject of extensive community consultation prior to being endorsed by the Board of Governors’ Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee in December 2024.
It features two new objectives: to increase McGill’s climate resilience and to become a Nature Positive University, one that acts to support biodiversity.
These are in addition to McGill’s three continuing goals: to become zero-waste by 2035, achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 and maintain the University’s platinum sustainability rating, which it earned six years ahead of schedule.
“McGill University is steadfast in its commitment to excellence in sustainability,” said Deep Saini, President and Vice-Chancellor. “Together, throughout actions both big and small, we can build a brighter future for generations to come.”
The Strategy lists 42 action items detailing how McGill will achieve its targets for 2030. Examples include improving waste sorting, establishing sustainability-focused orientation activities and establishing a program to offset the environmental impacts of travel.
“Sustainability is a collective effort shared by the entire university community,” said François Miller, Executive Director of Sustainability. “This Strategy empowers everyone at McGill – student, staff and faculty – to contribute actively to its success.”
Increasing climate resilience
Although climate resilience and becoming a Nature Positive University that supports biodiversity are new commitments, the University has already made significant inroads toward both goals.
Climate adaptation was an overarching theme in McGill’s 2020-2025 Strategy, which included references to climate-resilient landscapes and infrastructure. In 2023 the University completed a climate risk assessment, and in 2024 it participated in the Montreal Climate Summit, partnering with seven other Montreal universities to address shared climate vulnerabilities.
By 2030, McGill aims to address 100 per cent of the University’s critical climate risks, such as heat waves and extreme precipitation. Relevant action items outlined in the Strategy include increasing water retention and expanding awareness regarding extreme weather event safety.
Supporting biodiversity
McGill’s commitment to supporting biodiversity goes back even further: Since 2010 it has been the home of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, in 2022 it signed the Nature Positive Pledge and, one year later, McGill launched its inaugural Biodiversity Plan.
By 2030, the University aims to manage 30 per cent of McGill’s green space to foster biodiversity. That’s in addition to the McGill spaces already dedicated to conservation, such as the Gault Nature Reserve in Mont-Saint-Hilaire and the Morgan Arboretum in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.
Relevant actions outlined in the Strategy include planting 500 trees, hosting an annual bioblitz where members of the community document the different species on University campuses and increasing Campus as a Living Lab opportunities for students, where classroom learning is applied to address a real sustainability issue on campus.
McGill’s additional 2030 targets are diverting 70 per cent of waste from landfills and reducing emissions by 45 per cent compared to 2015 levels.
A team effort
In addition to outlining the 42 action items McGill will carry out over the next few years, the Strategy details how those actions relate to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, how McGill’s goals align with provincial and federal priorities and how progress will be monitored, such as through annual reports, tracked metrics and a task force composed of students, staff and faculty dedicated to each target.
Furthermore, it provides detailed information on how McGill’s students, staff and faculty can contribute to the Strategy’s success: students are encouraged to take sustainability courses and join sustainability clubs, staff are encouraged to factor sustainability into new projects and academic leaders are provided with a toolkit on how to integrate sustainability into their core activities and decision-making processes.
In addition to the Strategy, McGill will continue to implement such initiatives as the New Vic Project, which will be the physical expression of the University’s commitment to excellence in sustainability. It is expected to open in 2028.
“We cannot be complacent,” said Saini. “We must continue to advance our priorities in sustainability together.”