Planning and Reports

NIU is dedicated to reducing its environmental impact and promoting sustainability education and research. To achieve this goal, we’ve identified numerous initiatives to implement on campus, guided by our Sustainability and Climate Action Plan.

We’ve also created reports to track the university’s progress toward sustainability goals. The reports detail our efforts and provide data on energy consumption, waste reduction, greenhouse gas emissions and other areas.

Our sustainability initiatives and reports demonstrate NIU’s commitment to sustainability and provide a model for other institutions seeking to reduce their environmental footprint.

Sustainability and Climate Action Plan

The Sustainability and Climate Action Planning Task Force finalized NIU's first Sustainability and Climate Action Plan in 2023. The plan serves as the university’s strategic path to a more sustainable future, pairing long-term goals with near-term actions designed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or earlier.

Download the Sustainability and Climate Action Plan (DOCX).

Greenhouse Gas Inventory

NIU recognizes the urgency of the climate crisis and has committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas inventories quantify annual emissions and help measure progress toward our climate commitment goals. NIU has completed greenhouse gas inventories in 2019, 2020 and 2023. Since 2019, we have reduced our total greenhouse gas emissions by 8.5%.

Download the 2023 greenhouse gas inventory report (DOCX).

Sustainability Surveys

The Behaviors, Attitudes, Resources and Knowledge of Sustainability (BARKS) Survey is a student-led research project that assesses sustainability opinions and knowledge among NIU students, faculty and staff. It asks questions on issues related to sustainability, climate change and environmentalism, both on campus and around the world. The survey was most recently completed in fall 2023.

Download the 2023 BARKS Survey report (DOCX).

Greenhouse Gas Inventory — Calculated CO2e Emissions (MT)

Sector	2019	2023	% Change
Natural Gas	43,130	36,137	-3.8
Electricity	38,074	31,691	-9.1
Transportation	37,486	21,297	-18.6
Solid Waste and Wastewater	3,526	6,410	23.0
Other	0	3,716	100.0
Total	128,215	108,160	-8.5%

Resources

Contact Us

Sustainability at NIU
sustainability@niu.edu

View Campus Sustainability Interactive Map