On November 26, 2025, students, staff, and faculty from across the University of Waterloo joined us to celebrate our twelfth-annual Eco Summit. As Waterloo’s first Environmental Sustainability Strategy comes to a close, this year’s summit focused on looking ahead to the next chapter of our campus sustainability journey - where we are going, how we will get there, and how everyone on campus can meaningfully contribute.
The event began with a welcome from Eco Summit host Mat Thijssen, Director of Sustainability, who introduced the theme for the afternoon and invited attendees to reflect on their role in advancing sustainability on campus. Opening remarks and an icebreaker activity encouraged participants to connect across departments and disciplines while exploring key highlights from the 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report.
Attendees then heard a series of case study presentations from student, staff, and faculty champions leading sustainability initiatives across campus. Presenters included:
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Amanda Armstrong - UW Society for Ecological Restoration Bird Team Co-Lead
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Green Residence Ambassador Saskia Coossa - 2A Health Sciences
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Green Residence Ambassador Gurasis Kaur - 2A Arts & Business, Economics
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Curtis Goodbrand - Scrum Master and Project Manager, Residence Facilities, Campus Housing
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Jonathan Hyde - Associate Director, Infrastructure Development, Plant Operations
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Laura Ross - Impact Alliance representative, 4A Environment, Resources and Sustainability
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Sarem Tadesse - Impact Alliance representative, 4A Arts & Business, Psychology
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Erin Schmidt - GEMM Research Project Manager, Global Environmental Measurement and Monitoring
Together, they highlighted work ranging from habitat restoration and residence-based engagement to sustainable infrastructure, student leadership, and data-driven climate action.
We were also excited to invite a wide range of campus partners to host booths during the networking portions of the summit to share their work in building a more sustainable campus. We were grateful to have the Bike Centre, Campus Compost, Centre for Career Development, Climate Justice Ecosystem, Ecology Lab, Food Services, Green Residence Ambassador representatives, GreenHouse, Impact Alliance, Society for Ecological Restoration, Sustainable Transportation, UW Cycling Club, UW Repair Club, UW Sew-Ciety, the Water Institute, the Waterloo Climate Institute, and the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy, who all took part in this booth showcase to engage with attendees, highlight their initiatives, and spark new collaborations.
Finally, we were joined by President Vivek Goel, who came onto the stage to offer closing remarks and to recognize this year’s Green Programs participants alongside Mathew Thijssen. Together, they presented Green Office and Green Labs certificates, and celebrated students who volunteered with the Green Residence program and completed the Sustainability Leadership Certificate. These recognitions highlighted the many ways departments and individuals are embedding sustainability into their day-to-day work, studies, and campus life.
The Sustainability Office wishes to thank all the volunteers, case study presenters, and campus partner representatives who assisted in the planning and execution of this year’s Eco Summit. We are proud of the progress that has been made towards sustainability and look forward to continuing the work to make the University of Waterloo a more sustainable campus.
