SDG 13: Climate Action

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Canada is among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. Wilfrid Laurier University is embracing this complex challenge and working to be part of the solution. Through leading research and academic programs and operational practices, Laurier is demonstrating our strong commitment to SDG 13.

Highlights of Progress

The work that Laurier completed in 2024 to advance SDG 13.

Laurier honoured for sustainability education at QS Reimagine Education Awards

Wilfrid Laurier University won gold at the 2024 QS Reimagine Education Awards, chosen as the top submission from Canada and the U.S. across all 18 categories. Laurier was recognized for providing impactful experiential learning opportunities as part of its long-time research partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), which sees students work alongside community partners to tackle the effects of climate change on northern ecosystems and well-being.

Eight Laurier graduate and postdoctoral researchers win prestigious Weston Family Awards in Northern Research

The Weston Family Foundation is honouring eight Wilfrid Laurier University graduate and postdoctoral researchers with 2024 Weston Family Awards in Northern Research. Weston Family Northern Scholars are encouraged to co-design their research with northern communities, with the goal of protecting and restoring biodiversity in Canada.

Laurier student Xuan Nguyen works to promote sustainable student lifestyles during City of Waterloo internship

Wilfrid Laurier University and the City of Waterloo are working together to better understand how postsecondary students can contribute solutions to community issues in Waterloo. Through a full-time, paid summer internship at the City of Waterloo, Laurier student Xuan Nguyen investigated ways postsecondary students can embrace and incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into their lifestyles.

Laurier’s Mark Terry honoured with international award for environmental communication

Wilfrid Laurier University’s Mark Terry has won the J. Robert Cox Award for Environmental Communication and Civic Engagement from the National Communication Association (NCA), awarded for outstanding research that significantly impacts global environmental justice.  

Research Centres

Laurier research centres advancing SDG 13.

The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems

The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (LCSFS) connects researchers and community partners engaged in sustainable food systems change. It creates opportunities for citizens, practitioners, policy-makers, private enterprise and academics to work together to imagine and foster food systems that are fair, healthy, ecologically regenerative, culturally appropriate, prosperous and inclusive. Using food as a lever for positive change, the LCSFS enables meaningful collaboration among people across institutions, sectors and disciplines to support community-driven research, innovative knowledge sharing, and the development of community resources and sustainable food system policy.

Laurier Institute of Water Science

The Laurier Institute for Water Science is a multidisciplinary, collaborative undertaking among research faculty in the Faculty of Arts, the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics and the Faculty of Science. The focus of the institute is on research in three interconnected water-related disciplines:

• Hydrological sciences: This includes physical, chemical and biogeochemical aspects of hydrology, climatology and hydrogeology.
• Ecology and biogeochemical sciences: This includes toxicology, geochemistry, terrestrial and aquatic ecology.
• Public policy and management: Related issues include policy, economic, governance and legal aspects of water across Canada and internationally.

The Cold Regions Research Centre

The Cold Regions Research Centre was established in 1987. Initially focused on arctic and mountain glaciology and hydrology, the scope has broadened to cold regions (mountain and northern) research consulting on topics such as hydrology, climatology, glaciology, resource management, parks planning and biogeochemistry.

Viessmann Centre for Engagement and Research in Sustainability

The Viessmann Centre for Engagement and Research in Sustainability (VERiS) is an interdisciplinary and community-engaged research centre striving to be a catalyst and nexus for the transition toward strong cultures of sustainability. The centre understands cultures of sustainability “as characterized by shared values, symbols, rituals and practices grounded in sustainability principles leading to individual and societal choices that promote environmental protection, social justice and well-being, and a supportive economy." A culture of sustainability may exist within an organization, a building with multiple organizations or a community.

Initiatives

Laurier initiatives in 2023 that advanced SDG 13.

Low carbon energy used across the university

Using 2009 as the baseline year for emissions inventory, Laurier measures low carbon energy by:

1. Collecting utility data: Collect utility bills for the Waterloo, Brantford and Kitchener campuses
2. Input utility data: Input utility data into RETScreen software to amalgamate monthly billing
3. Apply emissions factors: Use emissions factors from the Government of Canada to identify emissions from low-carbon sources

Laurier's success in adopting clean and renewable electricity through the Laurier Energy Efficiency Program (LEEP) from 2016 to 2022 represents a significant milestone in its sustainability journey. LEEP, a $48-million multi-phase initiative, has transformed Laurier’s building portfolio into a benchmark for sustainable management. Key components of this program include the installation of rooftop solar panels, battery storage systems and a fully operational microgrid that enhances the energy resilience of the Waterloo campus. 

The program’s success is reflected in the implementation of diverse energy conservation measures across Laurier’s campuses. These include the installation of two solar walls at the Waterloo campus’s library and Bricker residence, which have effectively reduced energy consumption during the heating season. More than 1,500 solar panels were installed on seven buildings on the Waterloo and Brantford campuses, generating enough clean electricity each month to power approximately 820 laptops. In 2023-24, these seven installations across the Clara Conrad, Grand River Hall, Lazardis Hall, Library, Peters and Science buildings equate to 446.2 MW of clean energy generated and consumed. 

Local education programs on climate change risks, impacts, mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

Laurier participates in and provides a range of local education programs. Examples include:

• On-the-land camps serve as a bridge between Indigenous knowledge and western science. These camps are planned and facilitated with Indigenous partners across the Northwest Territories (NWT) as part of Laurier's partnership with the Government of the NWT. The camps bring together researchers from Laurier with Elders, knowledge holders and youth in an immersive experience on the land. These experiences exemplify the power of cross-cultural knowledge exchange by providing an engaging environment for youth and community members with hands-on science learning activities and discussions. The camps offer dual knowledge perspectives and diverse approaches to learning, creating a space where youth can be taught essential ways of being, particularly in sacred places, thereby strengthening and preserving Indigenous culture and language among younger generations. Youth are further engaged through hands-on scientific endeavors and cultural activities, effectively empowering and inspiring them to become future leaders.
• World Water Day (WWD) arose from Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The first International WWD was commemorated in 1993. Each year, UN-Water, an agency that coordinates the efforts of UN entities and international organizations working on water and sanitation issues, selects a theme to highlight a specific aspect of freshwater. The Laurier Institute of Water Science , Global Water Futures and Northern Water Futures host WWD events focused on regional and northern climate change-related water issues, highlighting the breadth and depth of water research in Waterloo and the NWT. WWD is an education opportunity for water researchers, practitioners, students, government officials, industry and community members.
• Laurier's Sustainability Office hosted Climate Action Week to engage the community on climate-related initiatives and research happening across our campuses. The theme for the week was Collaboration for Climate Action. Tackling one of the world's most pressing environmental challenges requires collaboration among industry leaders, educational institutions, governments, NGOs, and all citizens. Overall, the goal of the week was to showcase research, operational, and engagement efforts, happening at Laurier, to tackle climate change. Through online and in-person engagements, the Sustainability Office demonstrated how the University can be a leader in climate action among post-secondary institutions.
• The Laurier Northern Webinar Series was open to the local community and showcased the multidisciplinary northern research conducted by Laurier in collaboration with communities, other institutions and government partners. Topics included:
  • Northern water resources and climate change
  • Wildfire in the North: Impacts and adaptations
  • Adapting wildlife conservation and management to climate change in the Northwest Territories
  • Impacts of fire on community food systems
• Laurier 2024 Challenge: Mapping Climate Action invited students to come together to build a net-zero, sustainable campus by 2040. Students worked in groups of less than five to identify mitigation, adaptation, and community actions that will bring Laurier to net-zero emissions ahead of the University's 2050 goal. Groups were provided with a map of the Waterloo campus and had less than one hour to work through 40+ predesigned actions that could contribute to a sustainable campus.Teams were judged by a panel of three judges - Dr Ehaab D. Abdou (Assistant Professor, Global Studies), Suma Abid (Energy Manager), and Eric Meliton (Sustainability Manager). Judges evaluated all six teams based on their innovative ideas, actions, and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction potential. In the end, team "Tree Amigos" won $500 with their innovative campus design and actions. The winning team decided to donate their winnings to a local environmental charity in Waterloo Region.
• Laurier’s Inspiring Conversations webinar series shares topical research and expertise of Laurier faculty, staff and alumni. Responding to current events, it provides a public venue for conversation where all are welcome to join. The series has included a number of climate-change related topics, including:
  • Sustainable finance: Can our investments save our planet?
  • Confronting climate change in Canada’s North
  • International migration in a changing climate
  • The science and philosophy of environmental changes

Climate Action Plan

Laurier's Climate Action Plan is formally presented in its 2023-2028 Laurier Sustainability Action Plan.  The Plan outlines how the institution is supporting meaningful action on climate change.  Actions include:

• Establish mechanism for regular communication of carbon emissions to business units to facilitate reduction efforts and behavioural changes.
• Establish a post COVID-19 pandemic baseline (2022-23) to update GHG emissions reduction strategy
• Develop a utility metering strategy that will include retrofit and replacement of outdated infrastructure and capacity to maximize savings
• Regularly measure and verify energy and water usage based on established protocols
• Establish and implement capital planning design standards for new and existing energy and water consuming equipment/systems
• Develop building energy benchmarking capabilities and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Realize energy savings through continued expansion of Building Automation System (BAS) technologies and retro-commissioning of existing building system
• Incentivize sustainable transportation options to encourage uptake
• Identification of sustainable transportation opportunities to reduce Scope 3 emissions from
  campus-to-campus commuting
• Expanding on pilot learnings from 2018-2022 Action Plan to use electric and hybrid vehicles in the Facilities and Asset Management department fleet to replicate campus fleet conversion
• Utilize campus fleet management systems data and protocols to improve transportation demand management and decision-making for items such as anti-idling and route optimization

To further cement our commitment to addressing climate change, Laurier is among 20 Canadian universities pledging to help address climate change through the “Investing to Address Climate Change: A Charter for Canadian Universities”. This charter calls for universities to:

• Adopt a responsible investing framework to guide investment decision-making, in line with recognized standards such as the UN-supported Principles of Responsible Investment (UN-PRI). Such a framework should:
  • Incorporate ESG factors into investment management practices
  • Encourage active engagement with companies to foster disclosure of ESG (including climate) related risks, and adoption of operational practices that reduce carbon emissions and foster ESG-positive behaviour more broadly
• Regularly measure the carbon intensity of our investment portfolios, and set meaningful targets for their reduction over time
• Evaluate progress towards these objectives on a regular basis, and share the results of such assessments publicly
• Ensure that the performance evaluation of our investment managers takes into account their

Co-operative planning for climate change disasters

Since 2010, Laurier has maintained a unique and productive research partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT). The partnership, which was expanded and extended to 2030, has brought new research expertise and training opportunities to the NWT and strong community connections and research opportunities to Laurier scholars. Much of this collaborative work addresses the SDGs. Close connections between academic researchers and government enhance policy development related to the SDGs and improve the capacity of government to engage in adaptive management. Laurier collaborates with partners at the regional, territorial level and on the local community level to plan for climate change disasters include forest fire, flooding, drought and permafrost thaw. Learn more about the Laurier-GNWT partnership and its areas of research.

Laurier is also home to the Viessmann Centre for Engagement and Research in Sustainability (VERiS) , an interdisciplinary research Centre.  As an increasing number of municipalities are declaring climate emergencies and developing comprehensive climate action plans, efforts to mitigate climate change can unintentionally create social inequities within communities. Researchers at VERiS are partnering with partners, including municipalities and NGOs across Canada, and internationally, to co-operatively plan for climate change disasters.  The group seeks to identify, develop and test innovative and practical approaches to addressing climate change in a manner that helps ensure and address equality.

Collaboration with NGOs on climate adaptation

Laurier is committed to creating and advancing partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in our greater community to advance climate adaptation. By combining academic expertise with practical experience and community engagement, these collaborations can develop innovative, evidence-based solutions that address the multifaceted challenges of climate change. Such partnerships not only enhance the capacity of both institutions, but also lead to more sustainable and impactful climate adaptation strategies. Some of Laurier's recent partnerships with NGOs include:

• Laurier's Viessmann Centre for Engagement and Research in Sustainability (VERiS) is working with NGO partners to have municipalities tackle the climate crisis. Global challenges such as the climate crisis, inflation, COVID-19, state conflicts and human migration have reached the 'doorsteps' of Canadian municipalities. These challenges, which are emerging at an accelerating rate with growing complexity have exposed the insufficiency of traditional municipal strategic management and planning approaches. As municipal governments aim to develop long-term resilience, equity, and sustainability, it is necessary to recognize conventional management practices were not designed for the complexity of the challenges emerging. Consequently, municipal leaders require more sophisticated, evidence-based strategic management knowledge, tools and methods as well as the capabilities to apply these effectively. Currently, there is a significant gap in the availability of tested approaches designed to enable senior leaders to translate abstract systemic models into concrete practical ways of adapting strategic management practices at a localized, organizational level. VERiS is partnering with the City of Kitchener and REFOCUS, a local NGO, to address these challenges. 
• Laurier partnered with My Green Lab to reduce environmental impact, promote sustainable research. My Green Lab, a not-for-profit provides actionable ways to make meaningful changes in Laurier's lab by offering education and recommendations across 14 areas including recycling, water, cold storage and field work. Science and research labs at  Laurier have reduced water consumption by 98% and energy consumption of high-draw equipment by 30% by introducing new, more environmentally sustainable lab practices and processes.
• Laurier’s Sustainability Office partnered with the International Institute of Sustainable Development to host the ELA Hackathon focused on freshwater monitoring. Canada is home to more than 800,000 freshwater lakes, the largest cumulative area of freshwater in the world. These lakes offer tourism and recreation opportunities, provide consumable water, sustain wildlife biodiversity and are a key indicator of environmental change. The IISD Experimental Lakes Area consists of 58 freshwater lakes in northwestern Ontario, known as the “world’s freshwater laboratory,” where more than 50 years of research and environmental data has been collected. At the hackathon, students worked in teams of up to five to build public and open-source software that measures real environmental data, helping to protect Canada’s precious freshwater habitats.
• Geography and Environmental Studies students gained first-hand experience in treaty negotiation as part of the fourth-year course Northern Resources and Environments. The students took part in a Treaty Simulation exercise run in partnership with The Gordon Foundation – a charitable organization whose initiatives include Understanding Our Treaties. The simulation provided a hands-on learning experience, with students gaining an understanding of the treaty process in Canada and experiencing the realities of negotiation. Treaties are legally binding agreements made between the Crown and Indigenous nations, governments or organizations that define ongoing rights and obligations on all sides. The simulation students participated in focused on the co-management of wildlife under the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement. They were tasked with developing a wildlife management plan for a fictional herd of barren-ground caribou that had been added to the Northwest Territories species at risk due to a declining population, in part because of climate change.
• In collaboration with the Inuvialuit Fish Joint Management Committee and other partners, Laurier Professor Phillip Marsh is working to understand the climate change-driven northward migration of beavers in the NWT. This migration is having significant impacts on waterways and their surrounding communities. A new project called Barin, which stands for Beavers And socio-ecological Resilience in Inuit Nunangat, is looking at beaver-related changes to streams and lakes, and how those changes are impacting people.

A target date for carbon neutrality

As outlined in its Sustainability Action Plan, Laurier is committed to reaching a greenhouse emissions reduction mandate of 40% by 2030 and carbon neutrality across Scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2050.