At students' behest, colleges add efforts to address climate change

Corrections and clarifications: Earlier versions of this story reported Colorado State University is in Boulder. It is in Fort Collins.

Sure, prospective college students want to know how their short-list schools stack up on partying, tuition assistance and preparing them for a career.

But more and more, students also want to know what universities are doing about climate change — from reducing their own carbon footprint to preparing students for the environmental challenges ahead.

The reason is obvious: The bulk of the work to solve big climate-change issues will fall to their generation, said Liz Christiansen, director of the University of Iowa Office of Sustainability.

Dozens of colleges and universities — from Ivy League universities Cornell and Yale to small private colleges like Luther and Unity -- incorporate concerns about climate change throughout their operations. For example, they're using wind and solar to heat and cool dorms and classrooms and pushing university-backed funds to dump investments in fossil-fuel industries such as coal, said Julian Dautremont-Smith, director of programs at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

"Students are graduating to a world where environmental and sustainability challenges are likely to become more and more threatening," Dautremont-Smith said. "This is something that students expect."

Students are pushing universities to divest from companies that pollute, Dautremont-Smith said. "The basic idea is: Why is our institution investing in industries that are threatening our future?" he said. "That's a big conversation on campuses."

Students also see that corporations want to hire students that have "sustainability knowledge," Dautremont-Smith said. "Career-focused institutions are asking themselves: How do we make our students more competitive?

"Sustainability in many industries is the fastest-growing components of the industry," he said.

For example, organic food is growing much faster than the overall grocery industry. And solar and wind are the fastest-growing sectors of the energy industry.

"Sustainability is becoming institutionalized and a recognized part the mission of higher ed,"  Dautremont-Smith said. "Almost all higher-ed institutions want to prepare responsible citizens and successful employees.

"And sustainability fits right into both of those things," he said. "It's about preparing students for success in the coming green economy."

Who's rated best?

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education assesses universities and colleges for sustainability performance, rating them on within four levels: platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

Only one university has received platinum, the highest rating — Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

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