News and Events

The International Sustainable Campus Network is pleased to annouce its call for applications for the Fourth Annual ISCN Excellence Awards. Previous winners of the ISCN Excellence Awards have included the Australian National University, Cornell University, The Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. More information about the 2012 ISCN Excellence Awards, and the preliminary application form can be found HERE.

Preliminary applications are due March 30, 2012.

Winners will be announced at the 2012 ISCN Symposium, to be held June 19-21, 2012 at the University of Oregon, Eugene Oregon USA.

The ISCN is pleased to announce the dates and host for the 2012 ISCN Symposium:

2012 ISCN Symposium

June 19-21, 2012 

University of Oregon

Eugene, Oregon, USA

More details will be forthcoming over the next few months so stayed tuned and be sure to sign up for our mailing list for the latest information and updates!

The International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) provides a global forum to support leading colleges, universities, and corporate campuses in the exchange of information, ideas, and best practices for achieving sustainable campus operations and integrating sustainability in research and teaching. During its 2011 conference, June 8-10, in Gothenburg, Sweden, the network will announce the winners of the third ISCN Awards and present them with sustainably-harvested bamboo plaques during an evening ceremony attended by campus sustainability practitioners from around the world.

The winner of the ISCN Award for Excellence in Campus was Brown University and the winner of the ISCN oikos Student Leadership in Sustainable Campus Award was a project team from Cornell University’s Sustainable Design Program. The ISCN Awards are open to any college or university world-wide that has developed outstanding construction or educational projects that promote sustainability on campus and in the surrounding community. Over the past three years, over 100 applications have been submitted for these awards, from schools in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Australia.

“The ISCN Excellence Awards were started in order to recognize outstanding projects in campus sustainability from around the world,” stated Bernd Kasemir, ISCN Program Manager. “Over the past few years, it has been a privilege to see the innovative projects that are happening on the campuses of colleges and universities. As these are the places where the next generation of our world’s leaders are educated, their commitment to sustainability will hopefully infuse the students with the same ideas. The winner of this year’s awards, Brown University and the winners of the ISCN oikos Student Award for Sustainable Campus from Cornell University demonstrate exactly that high level of commitment.”

We are pleased to announce that ETH Zurich, a key ISCN Host Organization and signatory of the ISCN-GULF Sustainable Campus Charter, has published the first-ever combined ISCN-GULF Sustainable Campus Charter Report and GRI Sustainability Report. This notable accomplishment represents the culmination of a year-long team effort including numerous campus departments and constituents at ETH Zurich.

In the report, ETH Zurich describes its sustainability programs, and discloses its management practices and sustainability performance in accordance with the strict guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative, the world’s most widely recognized sustainability reporting framework. As its first GRI report, ETH Zurich achieved the ambitious goal of writing a B-level report, signifying a strong dedication to both thorough and transparent reporting. It also meets the requirements for reporting under the ISCN-GULF Sustainable Campus Charter, demonstrating the close synergy between both reporting programs.

In the ETH Zurich Sustainability Report, President of ETH Zurich Ralph Eichler states, “Our endorsement of the ISCN-GULF Sustainable Campus Charter is an expression of our commitment to sustainable development. In addition, our decision to follow the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative in the development of this report underlines our commitment to making the ‘ivory tower’ more transparent to all our partners in society and industry.”

To download and read a copy of the ETH Zurich Sustainability Report, please visit the reporting section of our website. In addition, Dominik Brem, Deputy Head of Security, Human Health, and Environment at ETH Zurich, will be presenting key findings from their reporting process in the “Reporting What Matters” Plenary Session on Thursday, June 9th at the 2011 ISCN Conference at the University of Gothenburg. To see the full agenda, click here.