Sustainability Surveys & Rankings:Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask

Facilitator: Jacob Park Associate Professor of

Business Strategy and Sustainability,Green Mountain College

Presenter: Paul RowlandExecutive Director, AASHE

Presenter: James SaloVice President of Strategy and Research, Trucost

6th Annual Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium Conference

UVM, Burlington, VermontOctober 26-27, 2009

Selected Issues & Questions

1. Who decides what product or which institution is green or

sustainable?

2. What is the level of awareness associated with and impact of green/

sustainability labels on consumer purchasing?

3. What constitutes or is meant by “greenest“ or the most “sustainable”

sustainability program, company, etc?

4. Given the human resource time/money required to fill out survey

questionnaire, what should be the institutional rate of return on the

time/resources devoted to all things green?

5. How can sustainability rankings/surveys serve as a real opportunity

to have important conversations around capacity building and institutional

strategy and avoid becoming all about the final rank and/or points?

Consumer Familiarity with Green Seals and

Certification Systems: It Varies Tremendously!

Impact of Green Labels on Consumer Purchasing