USC hosted its first Sustainability Press Pool over Zoom on Friday to discuss the University’s current sustainability achievements and goals for the future. 

Chief Sustainability Officer Mick Dalrymple announced that the University has been awarded the gold star rating by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The rating is determined under the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, or STARS for short.

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Of the 352 national and international institutions ranked under the STARS system, twelve have received the highest possible rating of platinum according to STARS reports. Princeton, Yale, UCLA, and University of Michigan are some of the 157 peer institutions to receive a gold rating according to reports. 

STARS is a self-reporting system for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS is a not-for-profit program that relies on partnerships between volunteer working groups and peers among participating universities.

“It’s basically the best minds in sustainability and higher education coming together to create a rating system,” Dalrymple said in the briefing. 

USC first submitted to STARS in 2021 and received a silver rating. The University was able to advance to a gold rating by 2023, one year earlier than its “Assignment: Earth” goal, Dalrymple said. 

The STARS system evaluates several criteria including academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership. USC was able to improve in all criteria between 2021 and 2023 except for innovation and leadership, which the University received top marks for in both years. USC received a 69.91 in 2023, four points above the 65 needed for a gold rating, which is a significant improvement from the University’s score of 58.21 in 2021. 

The University is continuing to adopt new sustainable initiatives and retrofit the campus with green infrastructure, including additional multi-waste bins and new composting facilities. Dalrymple said USC has also worked to eliminate single-use plastic bottles on campus, through a policy that went into effect in July 2022 and has helped avoid waste produced by 3 million bottles. 

An infrastructure decarbonization program will also begin Monday, which aims to transition all University utilities from gas to renewable energy sources such as solar, with a focus on updating the University’s gas-powered thermal energy systems that generate steam and hot water.

While the decarbonization program will focus on direct carbon emissions reductions to transition the University away from gas over roughly two decades, USC aims to reach carbon neutrality by offsetting emissions by 2025. 

The University has also fully transitioned to all-electric landscaping equipment, and 70% of the electricity on campus comes from solar energy and other renewable sources. 

“In the end, it’s gonna be behavior that really makes the difference, but you can’t practice the behavior if you don’t have the infrastructure in place,” Dalrymple said.

Dalrymple said STARS is not merely a ranking system but a tool to learn from other institutions and develop innovative practices. STARS also incentivizes sustainable education through curriculum and community engagement at USC and surrounding neighborhoods.  

According to STARS reports, between 2021 and 2023, the University made overall improvements to the engagement score. Among the subcategories for engagement, however, campus engagement increased while community engagement slightly decreased. Dalrymple said, however, community data can be difficult to measure quantitatively . 

The University aims to eventually meet platinum standard, the highest rating in the STARS system, by 2028, when Los Angeles will host the Olympics. The international media will be housed at USC, which Dalrymple said is an opportunity to showcase sustainable solutions to world leaders and international viewers alike.    

Some measures are currently underway to retrofit old infrastructure and transition away from the use of gas. The University is currently working to implement solar energy on new and retrofitted buildings throughout campus including at Galen Center, the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability on Catalina Island and, soon, the new Athletics West building, among others.

While achieving the gold status is a milestone, Dalrymple said the University still has work to do to progress toward a more sustainable future. According to USC’s Digital Energy Dashboard, the natural gas use increased by 15% compared to the same period last year.  

“The planning is never really done, because there’s always new technologies that come out,” Dalrymple said. “We’ll tweak it along the way, with a goal of having a tool that we can update.”