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Harvard Office for Sustainability

Accelerating Action for a sustainable future

Our Goals

Fossil Fuel-Free by 2050, Fossil Fuel-Neutral by 2026

Learn more about Harvard’s Fossil Fuel-Free by 2050 Goal (Goal Zero).

Harvard’s Fossil Fuel Goals

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The Harvard Healthier Building Academy

The University is taking steps to eliminate harmful chemicals on campus

We are enhancing the health, productivity, and quality of life of our students, faculty, and staff by making smart, informed decisions about the design and maintenance of our built environment.

Explore the HHBA

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Facts and Figures

How we’re modeling sustainability

Purple solar icon

3MW

Harvard has installed 3 megawatts of solar panel capacity on campus, the equivalent of 600 home installations, as well as 0.5 MW of installed storage.
Yellow illustration that looks like an outline of a power plant with a leaf coming out the top.

30%

Between 2006 and 2016, Harvard reduced greenhouse gas emissions 30% from 2006 levels, despite a 14% increase in the size of its campus during that time.
Icon of blue and white water droplets.

218M gallons

As of 2021, Harvard's water use was down 35%—or 218 million gallons, equivalent to filling Harvard's Blodgett Pool 291 times.
Graphic illustration of a green building and leaf

150 LEED Buildings

As of 2024, Harvard has 150 LEED-certified buildings on campus.
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16%

The shift toward plant-based foods as part of the Cool Food Pledge reduced greenhouse gas emissions per plate at Harvard by 16% between 2019 and 2021.
Icon of a person on a bike

436,279 miles

In 2022, more than 1,500 students and staff utilized the Harvard discounted membership of Bluebikes bikeshare, taking over 100,000 trips totaling 436,279 miles.

Annual Sustainability Report

We are using data to uncover new insights and drive continual improvements in how we operate our campus.

View the 2022-2023 ReportOpens new window

Screenshot of the Tableau dashboard with different colorful graphics representing data for the Office for Sustainability.

Sustainability at Harvard

Connect with OFS

Whether you are a student, staff member, alum, or simply interested in learning more about sustainability at Harvard, there are many opportunities to get involved and take action.

Connect with the Office for Sustainability

Students pose for a photo near the river holding trash removal tools during the 2022 Charles River Clean-Up event.

Community Engagement

Upcoming Events

September

24

Tuesday
3:00 pm-4:00 pm GMT+0000

Open to Harvard Community

Workshop: From Hive to Honey Jar

Harvard Common Spaces
Harvard Real Estate
honeybees

Participate in an artisanal honey extraction at our buzzing Smith Campus Center hive! The event will take place Tuesday, September 24, 3-4 pm on the 10th floor of the Smith Campus Center.

September

24

Tuesday
5:30 pm-7:00 pm GMT+0000

Thinking with Plants and Fungi: “The Quest for the Plant Script, a Talk by Author Sumana Roy

Why have our writers, artists, thinkers, and scholars been compelled to turn their attention towards the ‘plant script’ in the last one hundred years? Beginning from Jagadish Chandra Bose’s “torulipi”—the handwriting of plants or the plant script through which he hoped plants would write their autobiography—and moving through Rabindranath Tagore’s songs about the language of flowers; to poets writing about the syntax of the falling of leaves to artists trying to coax a vocabulary out of plants or creating a “tree alphabet,” Sumana Roy shall speak about the quest for the plant script, its codes, its compulsions, and its intimate histories.

September

29

Sunday
All-day

Student Event

Apply by Sept. 29: HGSE Student Sustainability Educator

Harvard Graduate School of Education
HGSE
Student Sustainability Educator
Students

If you are an HGSE graduate student looking to lead your own campus sustainability project, you’re in the right place. Starting August 25th, you can apply to become the 2024-25 HGSE Student Sustainability Educator. 

October

01

Tuesday
12:00 pm-1:00 pm GMT+0000

Open to Harvard Community

HRE Compost Lunch ‘n’ Learn

Compost
Harvard Real Estate

Join us for a fun and informative session on composting at 8 Story Street! Starting this summer, our composting at 8 Story Street will be managed by Harvard Recycling. This event will teach you all about how we spare the food scraps from the landfill and capture all that embodied energy. Come hungry and leave with a belly full of plant-based foods and a head full of Harvard composting knowledge. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to gather together and make a positive impact on the environment!

October

13

Sunday
8:00 am-5:00 pm GMT+0000

Open to Harvard Community

Apply by Oct. 13: Student Sustainability Grant

Student Grants
Students