Thompson Rivers University’s (TRU) commitment to sustainability has earned the university recognition as a global leader among post-secondary institutions. Always striving to be better, TRU continues to find more innovative ways to better manage its environmental impacts. 

Sustainability success 

Recognized and celebrated for its sustainable practices, TRU recently received national and international attention at World Congress 2023 in Montreal, Quebec. Co-hosted by Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) and the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP), the event brings together post-secondary leaders from around the world to create networks and develop and share their collective knowledge.

At the event, TRU received two awards in the following categories:

• Excellence in Sustainable Development – Bronze (CICan)
• Sustainable Development Goals – Bronze (WFCP)

James Gordon, TRU Sustainability Office

TRU tied with Weston College in the United Kingdom for bronze for WFCP’s Sustainable Development Goals Award.

“This recognition verifies that we’re doing some good work,” says James Gordon, TRU manager of Sustainability Programs.

“TRU takes sustainability very seriously. We put a lot of financial and human resources towards it and focus on how we build up our campus, making it more sustainable.”

Sustainability has been a core value at TRU since 2013, when it was identified as a strategic priority. TRU achieved a platinum rating in 2018, the first Canadian institution to reach that level, and again in 2022, for its sustainability initiatives and achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The university is the first in Canada and one of six in the world to have achieved double platinum.

“These sorts of awards confirm we’re moving in the right direction,” says Gordon, “and yet there’s still so much work to do. Sustainability needs all hands on deck to make a real difference, so hopefully we act as a model for others. From TRU’s president all the way to a student on campus for the very first time, it takes everyone to consider doing something about sustainability and then putting that into action.”