“Beyond the environmental benefits, which are important in their own right, our sustainability effort is fundamental if we are going to continue expanding our science and clinical operations. We need to grow, but in ways that have as little additional environmental impact as possible.”

-- UMMS Chancellor

Michael Collins, MD

About Growing Green

Growing Green is the platform developed to inform, educate and motivate the many constituencies of the UMass Academic Health Sciences Center around the issues of sustainability.

The center’s Sustainability Committee, with members drawn from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the UMass Memorial Medical Center staff, work together with the UMMS Sustainability and Energy Manager to develop and implement Growing Green programs that will help the center achieve its long-term goals of lowering its carbon foot print.

Our Goals

The Growing Green platform is supportive of the goals articulated by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s challenge for public institutions to “lead by example” and by the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

Leading by Example

As a public institution, the Medical School is committed to follow Governor Deval Patrick’s Executive Order 484 “Leading By Example—Clean Energy and Efficient Buildings”.

ACUPCC

University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment in 2007. This national commitment is bold, with ambitious goals for institutions to take steps to limit their impact on climate change.

Climate Action Plan

In November 2009, UMass Medical School finalized and submitted the UMMS Climate Action Plan to the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment.