1. Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver standard or equivalent.

Yes: GW is committed to targeting the equivalent of LEED Silver on all new bildings, focusing on energy efficiency points. Target the Equivalent of LEED Silver on All New Buildings, Focusing on Energy Efficiency Points

The University's first LEED Gold certified residence hall opened in Fall, 2009. A second LEED residence hall opened this year and is also targeting Gold. There are numerous other projects registered in the LEED pipeline.

2. Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.

Yes: Efforts are underway to develop and implement an ENERGY STAR purchasing policy.

3. Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by our institution.

No: A policy for offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by our institution will be evaluated as the university engages in further study to develop its overall plan for climate neutrality.

4. Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our institution.

Yes: The Foggy Bottom campus is a model of transit-oriented development principals because of its prime location to two Metrorail stations, numerous bus routes and downtown DC. Additionally, the university has a comprehensive transportation demand management plan that encourages the use of public transit by its students, faculty and staff.

The university offers free shuttle bus service for students, faculty, and staff from the main campus to its Mount Vernon and Virginia Campuses in order to cut down on vehicle trips. Portions of this service are open to members of the community as well. Additionally, the university offers free shuttle services providing access to key locations on the Foggy Bottom campus as well as the surrounding areas – these services are available to students in the evening hours of 7am-7pm when access to other alternative methods of transportation (walking, biking, etc) is reduced and security considerations are high.

In addition, the university offers an on-line carpool matching service to encourage carpooling among faculty and staff. Beginning in January 2009, the university will offer discounted parking to carpool vehicles as well as priority parking for these vehicles in selected garages, in order to further encourage carpooling and alternative transportation choices.

To limit the number of student automobile trips, the university prohibits freshmen and sophomores from bringing vehicles to the campus.

The university seeks to create a bicycle and pedestrian friendly campus by providing access to bicycle racks throughout the campus and is host to three bike-sharing stations on its campus.

The university also provides spaces for 19 Zipcars on campus offering car sharing services to GW faculty, staff and students aged 18 and over, with a 50% reduction in membership fees.

5. Within one year of signing this document, begin purchasing or producing at least 15% of our institution's electricity consumption from renewable sources.

No: A renewable energy purchasing policy will be evaluated as a part of the university’s overall plan for achieving climate neutrality.

6. Establish a policy or a committee that supports climate and sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where our institution's endowment is invested.

No: GW is currently invested in a number of projects which consider social, environmental, and governance factors. Such projects focus on thin-film solar and photovoltaic production, hydroelectric power generation, greenhouse gas credit market development, and sustainable agriculture and aquaculture. GW will continue to explore renewable energy funds and similar investment vehicles. The university’s investment managers have been surveyed to determine their consideration of environmental, social, and governance factors in the investment decision-making process. Further, a policy for providing direction to GW’s investment managers as to the appropriate consideration of social responsibility in investment decisions is under consideration.

7. Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste.

Yes: The university participates annually in the national RecycleMania competition.

In addition, we have adopted the following measures to reduce waste:
o Maintain and constantly improve upon a campus wide recycling program on all three campuses.
o Continue to promote the use of inter-office reusable envelopes.
o Replace production of paper materials with online alternatives such as: telephone directories; room selection and assignments; course catalogs and registration; bill payment; grade distribution; direct deposit pay receipts; travel approval; student hiring.
o Create and promote a system for campus community to report wasteful practices and offer suggestions for waste reduction through websites such as sustainability.gwu.edu, living.gwu.edu, and facilities.gwu.edu and email addresses such as recycle@gwu.edu, gweco@gwu.edu, and sustaingw@gwu.edu.
o Organize ‘Green move-in’ and ‘Green move-out’ for approximately 7,000 students in residence halls and promote ‘green living’ principles at the 6 student orientation sessions each summer.
o Promote use of 30% minimum recycled content paper campus wide along with double-sided printing.
o Use bulk condiments in food venues.
o Held a student competition for the design of graphics to be displayed on a new recycling truck and posted a video that a student organization created at the university’s recycling vendor’s off-site collection facility to heighten awareness of the university’s recycling programs.