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

How to Shift from Fast Fashion to a More Sustainable Future

The 2023 Fordham Women Summit will feature a fashion-industry panel plus sessions on environmental research and the power of our personal consumption choices. Each year, the fashion industry creates about 2.1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2020 report. That’s about 4% of all emissions globally. But the report also found that …

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Bronx 101: Students to Learn About the Cross Bronx Expressway’s Impact on Air Quality

As part of an annual pre-orientation program, incoming first-year students will learn directly from local residents and policy experts about how they can shape policy decisions and build a better future for Fordham and its neighbors. Students in the Urban Plunge program will meet on Friday, Aug. 25, at the Rose Hill campus to discuss …

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Fordham Earns Grant to Expand Bronx Market

Fordham received a $25,000 AARP Community Challenge grant in June to significantly expand the Highbridge La Familia Verde Market in the Bronx. The University launched the market last year in partnership with several community organizations; Fordham undergraduates and other student volunteers help staff it throughout the summer and fall. The grant is part of a …

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Lowering Our Carbon Footprint: Engineers Gather at Fordham

On Monday, June 5, experts in heating and cooling systems came together at the Lincoln Center campus to discuss the challenges of helping colleges and universities lower their carbon footprint. Decarbonizing High Education: A Roadmap for Decarbonization Master Planning, a half day of presentations and networking, brought together representatives from Fordham, NYU, Columbia, CUNY, Con …

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Social and Environmental Justice: From Community Gardens to Tech Access

Fordham hosted a wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary conference on May 1 and 2 at the Lincoln Center campus that addressed the sources of environmental degradation, racism, ableism, and rising inequality with regard to access to resources and information around the world. In her welcoming remarks at the International Conference on Social and Environmental Justice, Fordham President Tania …

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Fordham London Celebrates Earth Day

On April 18, Fordham London celebrated Earth Day with a fun slate of festivities while marking the formal launch of Our Common Home: Fordham’s Environmental Action Plan. The celebration featured several events throughout the day, including a sustainability quiz and an herb and tomato planting on the rooftop terrace. Invited guest speaker Jessica Sweidan, founder …

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How Do You Save One of NYC’s Oldest Trees?

The oldest living resident of the Rose Hill campus is getting some extra love and care from Fordham’s facilities, with an assist from a master arborist. Standing tall next to the statue of Fordham’s founder, Archbishop Hughes, this particular specimen of Ulmus Americana, aka American Elm, has been through a lot. It survived the Dutch …

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Climate Summit Kicks Off University-Wide Sustainability Initiative

On April 19, Fordham marked the launch of a seven-year transformative climate change plan with an event at the Rose Hill campus that brought students, activists, government officials, and neighborhood leaders together on the Rose Hill campus. The University also welcomed back to campus Elizabeth Yeampierre, FCRH ‘80, who laid out the challenges of achieving …

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White House Report Cites Professor’s Research on Climate Change

Marc Conte, Ph.D., an associate professor of economics whose research had focused on sustainability and climate change, was cited in a major report issued by the White House in March. The 513-page 2023 Economic Report of the President, which was issued on March 23 by the Executive Office of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, …

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Climate Change Pop-Up Museum Visit Inspires Students to Act

Learning and teaching about climate change can be overwhelming sometimes, said Shubhangi Garg Mehrotra, Ph.D., and even evoke a sense of doom. That’s why Mehrotra, an English and disability studies professor, wanted to take students in her Pop Culture and Climate Change and Environmental In/Justice, Climate Change, and Disability courses to visit the Climate Museum …

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Theologian Proposes Reimagining Our Place in the Natural World

In a wide-ranging lecture on March 21, Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J., made a case for rethinking humankind’s relationship with the natural world. “We need to change from thinking that we are masters of the universe to realizing that we are siblings, or kin, with all other beings in the community of creation, loved by God,” she …

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Green Campus Initiatives