Aligning the mission of Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) with Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment and human ecology: “Care for Our Common Home (Laudato Si'),” NDU is now officially a member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). The UNGC is the world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative, composed of 12,000 business and non-business participants as well as other civil society, labor, and government-based stakeholders in more than 160 countries. NDU’s membership strengthens the internal commitment to embrace and align all University sustainability-related initiatives to the 10 universal principles, falling under the umbrella of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The University started initiating sustainability projects in 2013 when a team of internal experts worked, under the European Union’s TEMPUS program, on a self-study to evaluate and report all potential areas for development and growth in that direction. Nonetheless, a new Environmental Sustainability Task Force has been created to develop an action plan and ensure that these sustainability projects are considered a top priority across all three campuses. One of the latest initiatives being rolled out is a waste management project that includes the sorting and handling of general waste, hazardous waste, and e-waste products with the aim of redirecting NDU toward the long-term path of “zero-waste.” To ensure the project’s success and its commitment to support the 17 SDGs, NDU has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with several reputable NGOs and private companies that focus on environmental issues and sustainability.
According to NDU President Fr. Pierre Najem, “To ensure success, we must foster a sense of involvement across the NDU community. It starts with small steps, such as the valorization of our waste through the separate processing of organic and inorganic waste. This approach underlines our target, beyond that of recovery of recyclables only, toward achieving our aim as a zero-waste institution.”
Faculty, staff, and students at NDU will gradually embrace and contribute to the inclusive global circular economy through their actions to create a University-wide sustainability culture to advance toward the achievement of the 17 SDGs by 2030. Many upcoming projects regarding sustainability are underway and will be communicated in due course through the various University media platforms.
For more information about the UNGC 17 Sustainable Development Goals, kindly visit the following link:
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
For more information about Laudato Si', kindly visit the following link:
https://laudatosi.com/watch