2 out of 3 colleges improve on eco-friendly grades

Two out of three colleges and universities are more environmentally friendly than they were a year ago, according to a leading annual survey, as students press for more sustainable practices on their campuses.

The College Sustainability Report Card, released yesterday by the Sustainable Endowments Institute in Cambridge, awarded grades for "green" credentials to 300 institutions in the United States and Canada with the largest endowments.

Just 15 schools received the highest grade. Among them were five from the Ivy League - Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania - and Stanford University. Carleton, Dickinson, Middlebury, and Oberlin colleges, and the Universities of British Columbia, Colorado, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington also earned top marks.

UMass-Amherst received a C+, with high grades for climate change and energy policies but low marks for endowment transparency. MIT earned a B+, Tufts University earned a B, and Boston College and Boston University both earned a B-.

The study is the only independent evaluation of sustainability in campus operations and endowment investments. The institute today also launched a website, GreenReportCard.org., that allows visitors to compare schools, see individual college profiles, and search by a broad range of criteria.

Colleges were graded on a range of factors - administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement.

Mark Orlowski, who directs the institute, said rising energy costs and increased student activism around green issues has persuaded more colleges to adopt more eco-friendly policies.

"Many are taking pride in greener campuses and sustainability-savvy investments," he said. "Making a commitment to sustainability, ranging from local food sourcing to renewable energy investments, is no longer a priority of only environmentalists. Such innovations are capturing the attention of everyone, from college trustees to admissions applicants."

For example, the number of car-sharing programs more than doubled from last year, the survey found.

There was also a sharp increase in renewable energy investments, and more than 90 percent of colleges said they were buying some local food.

Orlowski said colleges are responding to the growing number of students who are basing college choices on schools' environmental record and reputation.

In a recent Princeton Review survey of more than 10,000 college applicants, 63 percent said colleges' commitment to the environment could affect their decision.

Many schools quickly trumpeted their rankings. The University of New Hampshire noted that it was specifically praised for a landfill gas-to-energy project that will significantly reduce energy use and emissions.

"At UNH, we organize everything we do around sustainability," said Tom Kelly, the university's chief sustainability officer.

Still, 75 percent of institutions earned either a B or C, with an average grade of C+.