Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™

Presentation

The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS® was developed by AASHE, an acknowledged thought leader that advances sustainability by providing invaluable resources, with broad participation from diverse representatives of the higher education community.

Objectives

STARS is designed to:

Provide a framework for understanding sustainability in all sectors of higher education.
Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.
Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability.
Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance.
Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community.

Innovative Aspects

The STARS framework is intended to engage and recognize the full spectrum of colleges and universities, from community colleges to research universities and from institutions just starting their sustainability goals for already high-achieving institutions as well as entry points of recognition for institutions that are taking first steps toward sustainability.