Operationalizing sustainability through partnership
Sustainability is intentionally woven into all aspects of the Services and Sustainability sector, operationally shaping daily experiences on campus while helping Concordia operate more responsibly and efficiently.
During the 2024-25 academic year, sustainability work moved beyond aspiration to measurable impact. Through partnerships, operational solutions, and community engagement, sustainability helped advance Concordia’s long-term mission as a resilient and future-ready institution, earning national recognition along the way.
“Our goal is to make sustainability part of how Concordia operates every day,” says Sustainability manager, Cassandra Lamontagne. “We want to make choices that improve campus life for students, staff, and faculty and engage them in achieving our commitments in ways that have real, tangible impact.”
Creating value in operations through partnership
With sustainability embedded into the very fabric of Concordia’s operations, sustainability efforts are increasingly driven through partnerships and collaboration.
A key example of this collaborative approach in 2024-25 is the university’s PLAN/NET ZERØ initiative. The project brings together operational teams, researchers and institutional partners to apply deep energy retrofit strategies to campus buildings while also transforming Concordia’s campuses into living laboratories for net-zero innovation.
Receiving recognition
Concordia’s operational approach to sustainability was recognized nationally in 2024-25, being named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers 2024. The designation reflects progress across the university’s Sustainability Action Plan, introduced in 2020 and structured around five interconnected streams: food, waste, climate, research and curriculum.
In March, Concordia was further validated through external benchmarking, becoming the first Canadian university to receive a STARS Gold Rating under the more rigorous STARS 3.0 framework, administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
Community engagement also played a key role in shaping sustainability on campus. In November 2024, VPSS held two "We're Listening" sessions to gather feedback on the Sustainability Action Plan and collect ideas for the next phase. Insights from these sessions are directly informing the development of the 2026-30 Sustainability Action Plan, a process which launched in May 2025.
Employee-facing initiatives such as the Sustainable Event Guide and Certification program have helped translate institutional commitments into everyday practice.
“Programs like these help translate sustainability goals into tangible actions and resources to support teams in making sustainable choices,” adds Lamontagne. “Seeing our work recognized nationally shows that these everyday actions really matter.”
Strengthening sustainability through community engagement
Beyond operations, sustainability continued to support a thriving campus community. In 2024-25, Concordia once again earned a Living Campus certification from WWF-Canada, recognizing action on conservation, biodiversity, and community engagement.
At Loyola, the planting of 1,800+ trees and shrubs, most of them native species, nearly tripled the campus tree count, creating three new micro-forests, increasing biodiversity, and opening new research and learning spaces for students and faculty.
“Our community has really rallied around biodiversity,” says Lamontagne. “It went from being a relatively under-developed area at Concordia to a multi-stakeholder effort in a few short years.”
This work also complements broader efforts to approach the campus as a living lab.
“Programs like this give students a chance to build skills and take real action, making sustainability part of engagement and experiential learning inside and outside of the classroom,” Lamontagne adds.
Building momentum
Sustainability engagement reached new heights at Concordia’s fourth annual Campus Sustainability Month, which brought together over 1,600 students, faculty, and staff through 30+ online and in-person events on both campuses. The event showcased the breadth of the sustainability efforts across campus.
The month also coincided with a series of external recognitions, including three Concordia initiatives shortlisted for the International Green Gown Awards, Silver status as a Fair-Trade Campus, and student-led sustainability projects recognized at the Forces AVENIR gala.
“These recognitions are the result of a community-wide effort,” Lamontagne says. “Thanks to numerous collaborations and initiatives, meaningful change is happening.”
Together, these efforts underscore sustainability’s role as both an operational driver and a strategic lens at Concordia.
“Sustainability isn’t just about recycling or saving energy; it’s about embedding responsible, forward-looking practices into every part of campus life. It’s a goal the entire Concordia community shares, guiding how we make decisions that reduce environmental impact and contribute to a more sustainable world now and into the future.”
