Our sustainable future
At Nova Scotia Community College everything we do is to build Nova Scotia’s economy and quality of life through education and innovation.
Sustainability and NSCC's Strategic Plan
We believe that strong, diverse learning communities are fundamental to this mission. This year, the College published a new Strategic Plan to guide our pathway forward.
For many years NSCC has recognized sustainability as a strategic priority of the College. Identifying that the College and our students will need to prepare for the risks and opportunities of a changing world. Fortifying the College’s operations through resilience planning and equipping our graduates with the skills and knowledge to thrive as our economies and industries change is one of the key ways the NSCC will continue to be the college that Nova Scotia needs.
NSCC’s longstanding commitment to sustainability has resulted in the College emerging as an international leader. The College had received recognition as a top-performing institution among colleges worldwide and has been listed as one of the top 10 post-secondary institutions in Canada. In our mission toward continual sustainability improvement, the College has established a guiding goal to provide direction for future sustainability work.
Goal for 2022/23
- Leverage NSCC’s environmental sustainability leadership to serve as a catalyst for the integration of climate change in programming and learning, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our communities
To achieve this goal, NSCC will:
- Develop and implement a climate change action plan which will outline how we will address climate change within our organization.
- Integrate the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals into all aspects of our institution
- Prepare Nova Scotians for climate change-related careers and associated sector disruption and help communities respond
Sustainable Development at NSCC
Fig 1: UN Sustainability Development Goals with icons
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals developed by the United Nations in 2015 as a blueprint to achieve a more sustainable future for everyone. The Goals were proposed as the main objective of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to tackle some of the world’s most complex and pressing issues such as poverty, gender equality and climate change. The Goals have had a substantial global impact, with 193 UN member states adopting the Agenda.
NSCC has made our own commitment to the Goals. In January of 2021, NSCC became one of the first institutions in Canada to sign the SDG Accord. Which represents the College’s commitment to do more to deliver the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As one of the first Canadian institutions to sign the Accord, NSCC will lead other institutions as a positive example of innovation and partnerships. This year, NSCC’s International Student Ambassadors followed suit and signed the SDG Accord.
NSCC's Sustainability Team will develop a Sustainable Development Plan that will guide the College's continual implementation of the SDGs.
International Student Association signs the SDG Accord.
The NSCC International Student Ambassadors (ISA) joined NSCC’s institutional commitment to the SDG Accord by formalizing their pledge to the UN SDGs and signing the SDG Accord. Through this pledge to do more to deliver the goals, the ISA has joined 55 other student organizations across the world in signing the SDG Accord. Led by a group of student volunteers, the ISA program has created a welcoming, proactive community at NSCC for international students. The ISA hosts cultural peer support groups to guide incoming international students and is looking to host on-campus sustainability events in the coming year.