The Office of Sustainability leads and provides support for a broad range of campus sustainability initiatives spanning the entire university enterprise. A sampling of this work includes planning for sustainability, green building, energy and water conservation, climate action, composting, recycling, environmental education, public lectures and events, student environmental projects, research partnerships, fundraising, and classroom engagement. The Office’s initiatives and actions are guided by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, providing a holistic view of sustainability aligned with solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Rice’s campus sustainability program was founded in 2004 with the adoption of a campus sustainability policy and the hiring of a campus sustainability officer. This effort grew into an office of sustainability and in 2011 was rebranded as the Office of Sustainability, a collaborative organization dedicated to providing direction to Rice for short-term management and long-term planning of energy and other natural resources. The Office of Sustainability was rebranded and repositioned as the Office of Sustainability in 2023, reflecting the university’s significant enterprise-wide strategic commitment to sustainability.
Rice University is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Any member of the Rice community may access AASHE’s members-only resources by using an email address that ends in @rice.edu.
Rice University is also a member of the US Green Building Council. Any employee of the Rice community can receive USGBC member discounts and access USGBC resources by contacting Richard Johnson at sustainability@rice.edu and requesting Rice’s member ID.
If you have questions, comments, or would like to provide a gift in support of sustainability at Rice, please contact the Office's Executive Director, Richard Johnson, at sustainability@rice.edu or 713-348-5003.