Sustainability 2023-24
Land Acknowledgement
President’s Message
Welcome to the 2023-24 Sustainability Report. Thank you for joining me in recognizing the significant sustainability work our McMaster community has engaged in over the last year.
The stories in this year’s report continue to highlight our progress over the last year within the four strategic drivers of our Sustainability Strategy:
1) A Culture Focused on Sustainability; 2) Teaching, Learning and Research; 3) Self-Sustaining Campus and Sites and; 4) Operational Excellence.
New to this year’s report, there is a greater emphasis on making direct connections between our sustainability efforts, their alignment with McMaster’s Sustainability Strategy and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals recognize that sustainability is more than just going green – that to tackle climate change and protect our natural spaces, we also need to address health and education, reduce inequality and spur economic growth.
There are no simple answers, but our sustainability report shows how the McMaster community continues to find new ways of responding to the most pressing questions of our time.
Thank you for reading the 2023-24 Sustainability Report. I encourage you to use this moment as a starting point to consider how you can contribute to a more sustainable future.
David Farrar, president and vice-chancellor
Connection to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
McMaster is committed to addressing all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and we are excited to showcase how our community contributes to these goals daily.
For the first time, the Sustainability Report features the inclusion of UN SDGs alongside each success story. While we recognize that there are many more initiatives happening on campus, the stories shared here highlight the significant impact our community has made over the past year. We hope these stories inspire you to think about how you can contribute to these goals in your own way.
For more information on how McMaster addresses all 17 UN SDGs, we encourage you to visit McMaster’s Sustainable Development Goals site and learn more about the various university initiatives.
Guiding Principles
Interwoven throughout the strategy’s four drivers continues to be the principles guiding our campus’
transformation into a living laboratory of sustainability.
We look through a lens of Indigeneity in our sustainability efforts.
We focus on equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion in our sustainability efforts.
We see sustainability work as a collaborative, evolving effort.
We strive for innovative solutions tailored to our community.
