With Award-Winning Sustainable Practices, This School is Just Getting Started

Dawson College has prioritized sustainability for years and aims to create new partnerships to build a better future.

Based in the heart of Montreal, Dawson College is the largest college in Quebec’s CEGEP network and welcomes students in pre-university programs, career and technical programs, and special areas of study.

For several years, the college has maintained a serious dedication to leadership in sustainability. Dawson College has been Scope 3 carbon neutral since 2018 and has planted over 45,000 trees to offset its carbon footprint. In fact, the college won the 2021 Montreal Climate Change Award because of its commitment to being carbon-neutral forever.

Dawson is also a member of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Made up of universities and colleges across Canada and around the globe, AASHE rated Dawson College first amongst associate colleges for its 2022 Sustainable Campus Index. In addition, the college made the top 10 list for greenest air and climate, grounds, and transportation for schools.

Leading by example

Dawson’s success in driving sustainable practices comes from years of planning and hard work. As educators, they understand their responsibility to address the global climate crisis and biodiversity loss.

That’s why Dawson College took it upon itself to create Sustainable Dawson. This collective effort of staff and students is the reason the college is acknowledged as a leader in sustainability in academics, operations, planning and administration, engagement, and innovation.

Along with reducing emissions, Dawson’s main objective is to pass these practices on to its students and inspire the next generation of environmentalists. With sustainability as an institutional core value, the college recently won the 2022 International Green Gown Award which named Dawson the Sustainability Institution of the Year. The award validates the college’s mission to teach students through transformative and nuanced education, making them responsible global citizens. Dawson is also a proud member of Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), representing a strong network of colleges across the country working on climate action. CICan has also recognized Dawson’s accomplishments in sustainability.

Dawson’s success in driving sustainable practices comes from years of planning and hard work.

Ready to work together

Dawson College has made bold choices to be this sustainable and is grateful to the community, staff, and students for joining them in making its
ambitious goals a reality. 

Because of their support, the college has developed initiatives like Living Campus — which works to merge community and nature into one harmonic ecosystem on school grounds. This includes hosting over 50,000 bees, a mini orchard, and natural habitats on the gym roof. 

It’s clear that educational projects and activities at Dawson are mobilized through a sustainability filter. Now, the college is ready to widen its impact on environmental well-being by upscaling its projects. 

Dawson wants to build bigger with like-minded partners who share best practices and its core belief of “well-being for all” — that everybody benefits from connection to nature, inclusivity, and greener choices. The influential organizations forming alliances with Dawson will propel vital next steps toward making a better future for everyone.

Take action

Thanks to community support, Dawson has established itself as and will continue to be a global climate change leader.