Office of Climate Action Updates
Rutgers University Makes Princeton Review's Top 500 Green Colleges Guide for the First Time
Rutgers Sustainability Timeline Launch
The Rutgers Office of Climate Action is excited to announce the launch of the Rutgers Sustainability Timeline. This interactive timeline guides viewers through the history of sustainability at Rutgers dating back to the inception of the Agricultural Experiment Station in 1880, all the way into the present day and beyond. Different milestones can also be broken out by category, such as procurement and waste, food systems, transportation, and more.
A special thanks to the Rutgers Undergraduate team who worked to develop this timeline led by April Nguyen, with support from Jordan Eckstein, Sri Gondi, Shreeya Gupta, Sofia Little, Meagan Mahon, Sofia Pavlenko, and Ben Russell.
The Office of Climate Action has a New Home!
The Office of Climate Action relocated from Liberty Plaza to the Cook/Douglass Campus earlier this year. Stop in and visit us! We're just across the driveway from the University Inn and Conference Center.
176 Ryders Lane
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Climate Action Dashboard Launch
Rutgers has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2040 and carbon-negative -- removing more greenhouse gases than we are putting into the atmosphere -- no later than the university's 275th anniversary in 2041. Monitoring and reporting Rutgers’ energy use is a key step in ensuring that we are on track to meeting this goal. This dashboard is the first in a series of sustainability dashboards that will be developed and illustrates the progress made by the Energy & Buildings Climate Action Group.
In addition to tracking our progress to goal, we invite Rutgers community members to download and use these data as research and learning tools.
Climate-Action Track for Eagleton Fellowship Enters Second Year
More scientists are getting the opportunity to help guide state government on matters such as power grid management and energy efficiency, thanks to a partnership forged last year between the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU).
Through the Eagleton Science and Politics Program, the institute offers a year-long, full-time fellowship for scientists, engineers and health care professionals in New Jersey government. Under Eagleton’s partnership with the Board of Public Utilities, the institute created a climate-action track for Eagleton science fellows.
“Adding a climate-action track to the Eagleton Science and Politics Program provides the NJBPU with access to subject-matter experts who can help advance New Jersey’s ambitious climate action goals,” said Angela Oberg, the senior director for the Office of Climate Action at Rutgers. “Because the program is a year long, fellows can engage deeply with our most pressing climate action issues. In several cases, fellows have gone on to become full-time staff members at NJBPU, making this program a significant contributor to developing a clean energy workforce in New Jersey.”
After multiple unfortunate weather delays, in March of 2024, the Office held the Rutgers Green Jobs Fair -- an interdisciplinary career fair the featured job and internship opportunities related to sustainability, the environment, and climate action. This event was open to employers from all sectors and Rutgers University students and alumni from all academic disciplines and campuses. Free food and refreshments were provided in part by Impossible Foods.
The event also featured a Conversation with Industry Leaders in Sustainability, with guest speakers Peter McGuinness, CEO of Impossible Foods, as well as Ann Tracy, Colgate's Chief Sustainability Officer.
There were more than 35 employers and over 140 attendees.
Student Engagements
2024-2025 OCA Sustainability Ambassadors
Welcome to this year's Ambassadors!
The OCA Sustainability Ambassadors are a team of climate communicators leading sustainability education and outreach efforts across our campus and community. They help to build a culture of sustainability at Rutgers and get a behind-the-scenes look at our climate action efforts.
Sustainability ambassadors plan and implement outreach activities such as:
- Organizing events of different scales
- Tabling to engage students and community members
- Hosting the OCA podcast “Work Your Values: How to Be Sustainable in Any Career”
- Running social media campaigns
- Writing articles for the OCA newsletter and website
- Creating their own innovative project
Around Campus and Around New Jersey
Climate Action Group Updates
Transportation
Food Systems
Land Use and Building Design
Procurement and Waste
Adaptation
Energy & Buildings
Newark Campus
Camden Campus
New Brunswick Campus
Rutgers Health
Future Priorities and Initiatives
Climate Dashboard Expansion
Green Jobs Fair 2025
STARS 3.0
Rutgers University, through the Office of Climate Action, currently has a Silver Rating through the AASHE Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (or STARS), which is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS is intended to engage and recognize the full spectrum of higher education institutions, from community colleges to research universities. The framework encompasses long-term sustainability goals for already high-achieving institutions, as well as entry points of recognition for institutions that are taking first steps toward sustainability.
With the new STARS 3.0 revision being launched in June of 2024, Rutgers plans to soon upgrade and begin working under the new version.