AUS highlighted in 2022 Sustainable Campus Index

American University of Sharjah (AUS) is one of the top five institutions worldwide for community engagement in sustainability, according to the 2022 Sustainable Campus Index (SCI) issued by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. A publication from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the SCI highlights innovative and high-impact initiatives from colleges and universities that submitted a Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) report in the most recent calendar year.

“We are proud to see AUS being recognized for its sustainable campus engagement. We have always believed that we have a responsibility to be part of global and national efforts that confront the challenges of climate change and sustainability. This is why we are committed to graduating students who have a deep understanding of the complexity of sustainability challenges and are ready to address them no matter where they are. We have undertaken many initiatives to translate sustainable best-practices and innovations into action. Our students have proven themselves to be well-rounded and conscious world citizens of today’s sustainable needs through their research, participation in competitions and engagement with the AUS community through the Student EcoRep Program. AUS is also in the process of developing its first comprehensive Climate Action Plan with the goal to reduce the university’s carbon emissions in alignment with the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative. Higher education institutions are a critical partner in delivering scalable impact to sustainability challenges,” said Rose Armour, Head of AUS Sustainability.  

"Congratulations to AUS for their incredible work in creating a more sustainable world," said AASHE's Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser. “Upon reading the innovative and high-impact sustainability initiatives within this report, I’m encouraged that the future we all need will soon be realized.”

AUS is widely recognized for its sustainability initiatives. The university is currently developing its first comprehensive Climate Action Plan with the goal to reduce carbon emissions. The plan further aligns the university’s sustainability efforts with the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative. A member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), In 2020, AUS became the Gulf region’s first university to begin to ban single-use plastics across its campus. Additionally, the university’s Engineering and Sciences Building received a highly sought-after 2 Pearl rating by Estidama, a sustainable development initiative of the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council. AUS was also the recipient of the Green Audit Award as part of the Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency’s Sustainable Campus Initiative for university students.