The Hub is a sustainability ecosystem bringing together a student consultancy and a sustainability business council, while incorporating professional development.
In essence, our ultimate goal is to have sustainability be a consideration in all business decisions. To this end, the University of Waterloo is being defined as a world leader in sustainability integration — our Student Consultancy course provides experiential learning to establish skills in business, consultancy, and sustainability.
Sustainability Integration Defined
Sustainability Integration can be defined as such:
- The process of embedding / integrating sustainability into everything an organization does: from governance and strategy to day-to-day operations, processes, metrics and reporting.
- Both natural and social systems.
- A continuum exists regarding the extent of sustainability integration that organizations must consider in making decisions and developing sustainability strategies and integration workplans.
- Every decision within an organization is embedded in sustainability.
Our vision
- To be a nexus of interaction, collaboration, and advancement that defines UW as a world leader in Sustainability Integration.
- A collaboration of SAF and SEED to foster innovation, interaction, multi-directional communication and advancement of sustainability integration:
- Across the two schools.
- In organizations (through the Business Advisory Council).
- With students.
Closing the skills gap
The University of Waterloo’s Hub for Sustainability Integration is a nexus of interaction, collaboration, and advancement. It will provide members with the opportunity for iterative collaboration and innovation, sharing collective experience to advance sustainability integration in their organizations, in experiential education, and through the student consultancy. The University of Waterloo is developing and preparing tomorrow’s sustainability leaders to play an integral role in a sustainable future. Ultimately, Sustainability will be integrated into every business decision so that it becomes a natural part of everything we do."
In this video, Jennifer Roedding, the Executive in Residence for the University of Waterloo’s Hub for Sustainability Integration, provides brief historical details on the path sustainability has taken and how the University plans on being a major part of the solution.