Brooklyn College Featured in The Princeton Review’s “Guide to Green Colleges” 2022 Edition

The campus was picked with 419 others from across the globe that prove their commitment to the environment and sustainability and educating students in these areas. 

The Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts, a LEED-certified building.

Brooklyn College is pleased to announce that it is one of the nation's most environmentally responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2022 Edition.

The guide highlights colleges where students have a campus quality of life that is both healthy and sustainable. It also shows how well a campus is preparing students for employment in the clean-energy economy of the 21st century, as well as for citizenship in a world now defined by environmental concerns and opportunities, and how environmentally responsible a school's policies are. More on the methodology can be found here.

“We are proud of this recognition of our work to enhance sustainability on campus, as we seek to expand and deepen green practices and become more environmentally friendly,” said President Michelle J. Anderson.

Brooklyn College, along with other CUNY campuses, accepted former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s challenge to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% between 2007 and 2017. The college continues these efforts with the governor’s BuildSmart2025 program and other projects to improve energy efficiency on campus and help reduce CUNY’s carbon footprint.

In addition to offering a bachelor’s degree in urban sustainability, along with many sustainability-focused academic course offerings, Brooklyn College has established a 10-Year Campus Sustainability Plan that considers several operational areas: energy, water, transportation, waste management/recycling, procurement, food and nutrition, education and outreach, and buildings and grounds.

To date, the college has implemented several changes aimed at increasing its sustainability. In April 2019, it joined the REV Campus Challenge and was recognized as an “Achiever” member for its initiatives and efforts to improve energy efficiency and conservation. Achiever-level members are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and have dedicated staff to focus on clean-energy investments.

Also, the college’s newest edifice, the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts, is LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), a designation that has come to be the gold standard in the industry for sustainable buildings. The Tow Center opened in 2018 with low water-use toilets, highly efficient HVAC and lighting systems, and recycled construction materials.

Other examples of how the college is a leader in environmentally friendly practices include:

• retrofitting laboratory hoods and ventilation equipment in science facilities to increase energy efficiency (the college was the first CUNY institution to introduce energy-reduction measures during peak usage periods);

• students from the Health and Nutrition Science Department composting organic waste for use at Floyd Bennett Field; and

• increasing the use of natural cleaning products on campus.

The Princeton Review chose the 420 schools in the guide based on its survey of administrators at 835 colleges in 2020–21 about their institutions’ commitments to the environment and sustainability. The company's editors analyzed more than 25 survey data points to select the schools. This rating, on a scale of 60 to 99, provides a comprehensive measure of a school's performance as an environmentally aware and prepared institution. Colleges that earned a Green Rating score of 80 or higher were chosen for the Guide to Green Colleges. Of the 420 schools, 391 are in the United States, 26 in Canada, and one each in Ecuador, Egypt, and Greece. The schools are listed alphabetically in the guide and not ranked overall from 1 to 420.

"We strongly recommend Brooklyn College to students who care about the environment and want to study and live at a green college," said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review's editor-in-chief. “Brooklyn College offers excellent academics and demonstrates a commitment to sustainability that is exemplary on many counts.”

About Brooklyn College

Widely known for its offer of an excellent education at an affordable tuition and recognized nationally for its diverse student body, Brooklyn College has been an anchor institution within the Borough of Brooklyn and greater New York City for more than 90 years. With approximately 17,000 students in more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the arts, humanities, sciences, education, and business, the college is renowned for its rigorous academics, award-winning faculty, distinguished alumni, and community impact. Part of the City University of New York (CUNY), Brooklyn College offers a vibrant and supportive student experience on a beautifully landscaped 35-acre campus in the borough’s Midwood neighborhood.