Queen’s is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and overall energy consumption.
Queen’s developed its first Climate Action Plan in 2016, which pledges to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2040.
In 2020, Queen’s was one of 15 founding signatories of the Investing to Address Climate Change: A Charter for Canadian Universities, and the university met its first major milestone target for the reduction of its GHG emissions by 35 percent from 2008 to 2020. Queen’s GHG Inventory Report 2022 outlines the university's second milestone target of 70% reduction by 2030. Queen’s is also member of the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3), a group of 19 leading North American research institutions and governments united in a collaborative effort to accelerate local action against climate change and connects the world’s leading research universities committed to accelerating climate action.
In the Fall of 2022, a Progress Report on the Climate Action Plan was published to report on the targets previously laid out. The Report includes the several projects Queen’s has underway or in development that will contribute to continuing to reduce our carbon footprint, including the following:
- Installing more efficient ventilation systems in high-energy-use lab spaces such as Chernoff Hall, the New Medical Building, and Biosciences Complex
- Using geo-exchange heating and cooling systems for the 355 King Street West facility and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre construction project
To ensure Queen’s achieves Net Zero, work is underway to prepare a roadmap that will define the initiatives and investments required to meet our commitments.
The Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report 2023 (PDF 14.3 MB) is now available and documents continued progress toward our goals.
We are committed to working with local governments and partnering and collaborating on climate change with local community groups. Queen's is a key partner of Sustainable Kingston, an NGO looking to advance effective transition towards sustainability locally.
In 2024, for the fourth consecutive year, Queen's ranked in the top 10 of the THE Impact Rankings earning eighth place worldwide and second place in North America, out of more than 2,100 institutions from 125 countries. It is the only Canadian university to achieve this milestone since the rankings launched in 2019.