Green Campus Initiatives

In keeping with the Jesuit traditions of the pursuit of wisdom and learning, education of the whole person and respect for the environment, we recognize the value of minimizing our environmental impact.

We will endeavor to design, construct and maintain our buildings, infrastructure, and grounds in a manner that ensures environmental sustainability and demonstrates sustainability best practices in a broad range of areas.

Our Climate Action Report highlights the progress we have made through 2021 and establishes a framework to minimize our environmental impact in all areas of our operations. Fordham University remains committed to sustainability as a central consideration in all aspects of our activities, including curriculum, student development and education, faculty and staff involvement, and physical plant and campus operations.

More Green Campus Initiatives

Facilities Overview

We maintain over 42 buildings (comprising of 4.7 million square feet) which are dispersed throughout four campuses.

Installing solar panels on top of Walsh Library on the Rose Hill campus

Solar Projects

Fordham has increased its sustainable energy sources with the use of on- and off-campus solar arrays.

A recycling bin full of empty plastic water bottles

Campus Recycling

More than 208,000 pounds of paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and metal are being recycled and diverted from the University’s waste stream annually.

Transportation

Fordham’s Department of University Transportation has converted its entire vehicle fleet of vans (50+) to biofuel.

Partnerships

We also work to enhance our impact through strategic partnerships and programs that coordinate sustainability efforts with our NYC community.

Green Buildings

All new buildings will be designed from an energy standpoint to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) New Construction Silver rating, ensuring that all new properties are environmentally responsible.

New Campus Center Addition

The new campus center addition at the Rose Hill campus was designed to LEED standards and uses passive heating and cooling technology. It is currently under construction and anticipated to be completed by 2025. In addition, all renovations of existing facilities will meet or exceed LEED for the existing buildings criterion.

LEED Gold Certification

Campbell, Salice, and Conley halls, a 172,265 GSF residential complex the University dedicated in 2010, achieved LEED Gold Certification.

LEED Silver Certification

The Law School building and McKeon residential tower are Fordham’s newest LEED Silver certified buildings. The new facilities have added more than 415,000 square feet of residential and academic space to the Lincoln Center campus.

Sustainability News at Fordham

Reading Philosophy with AI, Salamander Survival, and Reforestation: Grad Students Research Timely Topics

In the first gathering of its kind, students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) gathered at the McShane Campus Center on the Rose Hill campus on April 16 to celebrate the research that is a critical part of their master’s and doctoral studies. “It’s really gratifying to see how many of the …

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Caring for Our Common Home: Fordham Sustainability Spring Update

At the Climate Action Summit held April 8 at Rose Hill, several elected officials were on hand to celebrate Fordham’s new role as an EPA grantmaker. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the crowd, “We couldn’t have thought of a better place than Fordham” to dispense the federal funding, which will go to grassroots …

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Water and Migration: Professor Studies Drought-Impacted Communities in Mali

Isaie Dougnon, Ph.D., an associate professor of French and Francophone studies and international humanitarian affairs, has spent the last few months running a research project that hits close to home— studying water and migration in his native Mali. Funded through a nearly $25,000 grant awarded to Dougnon by the Wenner-Gren Foundation in September 2023, the …

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Annual Summit Focuses on Climate Change Leadership

Daylong Event Calls for Grassroots Action and Celebrates Fordham’s Role as EPA Grantmaker We don’t all have to be scientists to fight climate change, a prominent marine biologist and activist told Fordham students, activists, and members of the Bronx community at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus on April 8. “I think what the world needs, right …

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Where Are They Now? How the Fordham Foundry Helped These Alumni Launch Their Startups

Since 2012, the Fordham Foundry has supported scores of students, alumni, faculty, and community members along their journeys as entrepreneurs, from hosting pitch competitions with cash prizes, like the Ram’s Den and Pitch Competition, to having an open-door policy and fostering a collaborative environment that encourages students to put their big dreams and critical thinking …

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Professor Finds No Direct Causal Effect of Air Pollution on Severe COVID Symptoms

During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers noticed that people living in areas with higher air pollution were likely to suffer from more severe symptoms of the virus. But was that air pollution actually causing those symptoms? In a new study published this month, Marc Conte, Ph.D., professor of economics at Fordham, says no. “There’s …

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Bringing Oysters Back to the Bronx

Perched on a skiff bobbing off the shores of City Island one sunny August morning, Kevin Horbatiuk, FCLC ’78, LAW ’81, watched a fellow volunteer with City Island Oyster Reef pull a steel cage from the water. It had been three months since the cage—containing recycled oyster shells seeded with larvae called spat—was lowered into …

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Nature Publishes Fordham Professor’s Research on Disproportionate Impacts of Climate Change

Fordham professor Marc Conte and fellow researchers have devised a model to predict the impacts of climate change on individual economies worldwide, and the outlook is bleak for the least developed regions. Published in the journal Nature, “Unequal Climate Impacts on Global Values of Natural Capital” reveals a staggering forecast: By the year 2100, 90% …

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Caring for Our Common Home: Fordham Sustainability Update

Last summer, in response to a call from Pope Francis to “take concrete actions in the care of our common home,” Fordham published the Laudato Si’ Action Plan. The document set forth an ambitious seven-year plan for the University that touches on everything from facilities and curriculum to student involvement, all with the ultimate goal …

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Interns Work to Create a Sustainable Campus

Fordham students have long been involved in efforts to promote a sustainable world. This fall, some of them have turned their attention to Fordham’s campuses. In September, the Department of Facilities Management invited four students to intern with them on projects geared toward lowering Fordham’s carbon footprint: Fordham College at Rose Hill seniors Ethan Shepard, …

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20 in Their 20s: Ian Muir Smith

A U.N. communications officer and analyst helps farmers adapt to climate change Chicago native Ian Muir Smith got his first meaningful exposure to the effects of climate change in 2021, as a Fordham College at Lincoln Center student majoring in international studies. He earned a summer research grant to travel to Kenya, where he spent …

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Green Campus Initiatives