A Greener Institution
Harvard Kennedy School is committed to sustainability throughout its operations and policies. Our Campus Planning and Operations (CPO) team strives to provide timely and efficient professional guidance and high-quality campus services for the entire HKS community, and the HKS Sustainability Leadership Council provides strategic guidance on sustainability priorities and new programs to senior leadership at HKS.
Learn about some of the facilities-related efforts and policy initiatives (internal HKS site) that work toward reducing our greenhouse gas emissions footprint and how you can get involved.
Reducing energy consumption and transitioning to a low-carbon campus are priorities of Harvard Kennedy School. We're reducing energy load in every campus building by upgrading infrastructure, from adding occupancy sensors and new, efficient lighting systems, replacing aging air handlers and chillers, and being smarter about where and how we use our energy.
HKS has a 91.2 kW solar system on the roofs of Littauer, Ofer, Rubenstein, and Wexner buildings to generate renewable energy on campus. Each year, the system’s more than 230 panels generate more than 100 MWh of energy, equivalent to burning nearly 400,000 pounds of coal.
HKS seeks to reduce unnecessary waste and improved recycling options throughout all levels of its campus. We partner with Harvard Recycling to increase the amount of compostable and recyclable material and reduce the volume of trash sent to the landfills.
Learn more about how Harvard handles waste.
HKS is committed to achieving and maintaining inclusive well-being through wellness programs and increased access to nature. Since 2017, HKS has been expanding its plant program on campus by installing more plants, greenery, and pictures of natural scenes. Such biophilic imagery has been linked to many health benefits, including: cognitive, psychological, and physiological improvements on health, reduction in stress and inattention, and increased sense of well-being, comfort, creativity, and enhanced mood.
Healthier buildings support healthier people. Our goal is to use only sustainable, non-toxic products in all aspects of everyday operations. We are currently removing chemicals in the built environment from items such as furniture, carpeting, and paint in order to increase the health of our community with both long- and short-term benefits. Learn more about Harvard’s Sustainable Building Standards and the policies that guide our work.
Harvard adopted the Sustainable and Healthful Food Standards to redesign on-campus cafeterias and Dining Services catering options to improve consumer wellbeing, reduce climate impact on ecosystems and agriculture, reduce food waste, and protect the welfare of workers throughout the value chain, all while offering nutritional menus and helping community members make informed food choices. Harvard wants its community to eat well, be active, and protect the planet. Learn more about Harvard's food programs and policies.
Personal well-being is integral to sustaining a healthier Harvard community. The University has many resources designed to support every member of our community, including The Center for Wellness and Health which offers massage, acupuncture, meditation, and more for the entire Harvard community, and the Harvard Work/Life Program.
Work/Life Program Calendar offerings for the semester include free online programs.
Travel is an important part of how we conduct our research, mission, and academic practice at HKS. But travel, and air travel in particular, has a large environmental impact on the climate and health of communities across the globe. The greenhouse gas emissions from our HKS staff and faculty air travel is equivalent to the total greenhouse gas emissions that come from heating and providing electricity for our buildings.
Since 2018, HKS’ Dean-appointed Sustainability Leadership Council has investigated HKS and its air travel footprint as a core campus priority, including how to better estimate HKS’ air travel footprint, and explore behavioral nudges and strategies to improve how our community can more sustainably connect.
Plastic waste and disposable plastic debris has an clear impact on the ecosystems and oceans around the world. HKS has been working to improve plastic recycling rates in campus operations and to limit the amount of plastic that comes to campus in the first place through better procurement purchases and working with vendors to find plastic alternatives. Multiple projects have been implemented behind-the-scenes to drive down our plastic waste volume and examine what plastic waste can be reduced, substituted, or eliminated entirely.
Community Leadership
Green Team
The community organization focused on sustainability. Open to HKS students, staff, faculty, and fellows.
Sustainability Leadership Council
An appointed committee of faculty, students, and staff tasked with advising Dean Elmendorf on the HKS sustainability agenda.
Tracking Progress
The Kennedy School’s commitment to sustainability began with an active grassroots effort in 2008 and is now institutionalized with a School-specific Sustainability Plan that was adapted from Harvard University’s Sustainability Plan.
The goal of the plan is to positively contribute to the University-wide sustainability goals, as well as provide leadership and support to other campuses, internally at Harvard and externally among our higher education peers.
A key component of this effort is to broaden the definition of sustainability from its focus on “greening” the HKS campus to a more inclusive focus on inter-generational well-being. Current research in sustainable development is focused primarily at the global and national level. As a leader in the global community, HKS has the opportunity to join a small group of major corporations and institutions in furthering this research at the scale of local communities.
The HKS Sustainability Plan is the first step in an iterative process. Integration of research, teaching, governance, and culture is critical to the long-term success of the proposed strategies. Harvard is developing the next Sustainability Plan in 2020 and 2021, and HKS will use that plan as a model to identify and adapt specific sustainability priorities for our campus. Download the 2016-2020 HKS Sustainability Plan.
Sustainability across Harvard
Visit the Office for Sustainability’s website to learn more about Harvard University-wide initiatives like Living Labs, community engagement, green buildings, and available student grants.
The Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) encourages research and education about the environment and its many interactions with human society. The Center draws its strength from faculty members and students across the University who make up a remarkable intellectual community of scholars, researchers, and teachers of diverse fields. The most pressing problems facing our natural environment are complex, often requiring collaborative investigation by scholars versed in different disciplines. By connecting scholars and practitioners from different disciplines, the Center for the Environment seeks to raise the quality of environmental research at Harvard and beyond.
The Center seeks to provide the next generation of Harvard-educated researchers, policymakers and corporate leaders with a comprehensive interdisciplinary environmental education, while fostering linkages and partnerships amongst different parts of the University as well as between the University and the outside world. Through a variety of grants and fellowships, the Center supports research related to the environment at every level, from undergraduates through senior faculty members. By sponsoring symposia, public lectures, and informal student convocations, the Center connects people with an interest in the environment.