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Net Zero by 2040

Our goals align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 13 – Climate Action.

York is advancing bold new sustainability goals to shrink its carbon footprint and increase transparency and accountability.

York University is an international leader in sustainability-related research, teaching, partnerships, and campus practices.  

As the third-largest university in Canada, York has an extensive history demonstrating a commitment to sustainability that has garnered much recognition, including a spot on Canada’s Greenest Employers list for 11 consecutive years and consistent annual high scores for the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. 

With bold ambition to build on its strong foundation to become one of the most sustainable institutions in Canada, York University is accelerating its timeline and aiming to achieve net-zero emissions on Scope 1 and 2 and to significantly reduce Scope 3 emissions by 2040 – a decade sooner than its previous commitment. 

Our goals are closely aligned with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 13 – Climate Action, as well as with our Sustainability Strategy. This is part of the broader university-wide effort to advance the SDGs, as outlined in the University’s Academic Plan 2020-2025. Through these initiatives, we aim to foster positive change both locally and globally, benefiting York’s students, the communities we serve, and the world at large.


Here’s how we’re going to meet those goals:

Measure Our Footprint

Measure our greenhouse gas emissions and ecological footprint to assess and manage reductions. Report on broader sustainability goals in collaboration with the Ecological Footprint Initiative.

Energy Management Plan

Implement an Energy Management Plan to accelerate greenhouse gas emission reductions from the University’s central utilities and deep retrofits to buildings.

York University is taking steps today to meet our 2030 emissions reduction target five years early by 2025, including reducing use of the co-generation plant, optimizing building systems for heating and cooling and better use of occupancy data to manage energy use.

Community Partnerships

Partner with other stakeholders such as the City of Toronto and the Green Will Initiative, a network of property owners working together towards achieving Toronto’s net-zero emissions target.

Climate Awareness Campaign

Generate community engagement, action and research, using York’s campuses as ‘living labs’ through experiential education and sustainable living and sustainability pledges.

Talloires Declaration

It has been signed by more than 300 university presidents and chancellors in more than 40 countries. By signing the Talloires Declaration York University has made a commitment to the following 10 action points.

  1. Increase Awareness of Environmentally Sustainable Development
    Use every opportunity to raise public, government, industry, foundation, and university awareness by openly addressing the urgent need to move toward an environmentally sustainable future.
  2. Create an Institutional Culture of Sustainability
    Encourage all universities to engage in education, research, policy formation and information exchange on population, environment, and development to move toward global sustainability.
  3. Educate for Environmentally Responsible Citizenship
    Establish programs to produce expertise in environmental management, sustainable economic development, population, and related fields to ensure that all university graduates are environmentally literate and have the awareness and understanding to be ecologically responsible citizens.
  4. Foster Environmental Literacy for All
    Create programs to develop the capability of university faculty to teach environmental literacy to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.
  5. Practice Institutional Ecology
    Set an example of environmental responsibility by establishing institutional ecology policies and practices of resource conservation, recycling, waste reduction and environmentally sound operations.
  6. Involve All Stakeholders
    Encourage involvement of government, foundations, and industry in supporting interdisciplinary research, education, policy formation and information exchange in environmentally sustainable development. Expand work with community and nongovernmental organizations to assist in finding solutions to environmental problems.
  7. Collaborate for Interdisciplinary Approaches
    Convene university faculty and administrators with environmental practitioners to develop interdisciplinary approaches to curricula, research initiatives, operations and outreach activities that support an environmentally sustainable future.
  8. Enhance Capacity of Primary and Secondary Schools
    Establish partnerships with primary and secondary schools to help develop the capacity for interdisciplinary teaching about population, environment, and sustainable development.
  9. Broaden Service and Outreach Nationally and Internationally
    Work with national and international organizations to promote a worldwide university effort toward a sustainable future.

Maintain the Movement
Establish a Secretariat and a steering committee to continue this momentum and to inform and support each other’s efforts in carrying out this declaration.

Interested in learning more?

If you have any questions or suggestions, or if you would like to get involved by becoming a sustainability champion, please email sustainability@yorku.ca.


Paris Agreement


Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)


SDGs