Today is a big day for sustainability at SFU as the new Senior Sustainability Council invites community members to comment on a draft of SFU’s first Sustainability Strategic Plan. This draft has been reviewed by the Vice Presidents and Deans and incorporates some of the feedback received from them.
For many staff, faculty and students at SFU, the Plan will represent the most extensive fruit of their aspirations and efforts to raise “sustainability” to the level of other major activities undertaken by the University. When approved, it will become an integral part of the University Planning Framework, aligned with the University’s Mission and Vision, its Guiding Principles, and other major plans, including the Academic and Strategic Research Plans.
The draft Plan should be understood for what it is: the setting of high-level Goals and Outcomes, as well as Strategies by which these can be achieved. Elements of the Plan are typically framed broadly because they must be applied differently across a broad range of activities and constituencies.
The four Goals reflect goals established in other plans, but view them through a “sustainability lens.” For most Goals, Outcomes are limited based on experience: identifying many priorities is essentially setting none. We believe it is better to pursue fewer well chosen but achievable Outcomes than to risk dissipating energy chasing too many.
When approved, the Plan will represent just the first step in the planning process. In the coming year, teams within each Vice President’s portfolio will develop action plans to address the elements in the Plan relevant to them.
We have chosen to proceed with the Plan in advance of creating more comprehensive action plans because the need to begin is urgent: we cannot afford to await the arrival of the Perfect Plan that will never come. We believe this Plan offers an opportunity to begin now with more formal, detailed planning based on the broad guidelines and aspirations it provides.
Work over the first year of the Plan will include carrying out “inventories” of academic offerings, and research, community and operational activities, that align with Plan goals. Much work that appropriately qualifies as “sustainability-related or –focused” takes place across SFU, but this activity needs to be seen and documented more clearly in its whole scope and detail.
Those who read carefully through the Plan will note that Goal 4: Leveraging Institutional Strength, which is where operational activity is most focused, includes more Outcomes than other Goals. This is because many operational units (e.g., Facilities Services, Ancillaries, and others) have been represented on the Sustainability Advisory Committee since 2006 and are already well advanced in planning and implementing some of the elements seen in this draft.
You can view the draft Sustainability Strategic Plan here. Please send your comments by email to sustainability@sfu.ca and include the subject heading “Comments on the Draft Sustainability Strategic Plan.”
The deadline for comments on this draft is May 22.
