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What Sustainability Looks Like at the University of Arizona

Right in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, where the sun shines a little brighter, the University of Arizona feels like an oasis of green spaces, shaded walkways, and iconic spots.

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But what you see on campus is only part of the story. Beneath it all is a deeper commitment to how sustainability shows up across campus life.��

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That’s why we made��The Princeton Review’s��, a list of colleges recognized for their sustainability practices, commitment to sustainability education, and dedication to a healthy quality of life for on-campus students.

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Here’s five ways that mindset shows up across campus, from planning and student projects to everyday innovations shaping what comes next.

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1. Plan: The Roadmap to a Climate-Neutral Future

Before any sustainability projects take shape on campus, it’s important to know there’s a bigger framework guiding it all. At the University of Arizona, that vision is the��, a roadmap for moving campus toward a climate-neutral future.

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The goal is to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 while building systems that are just as resilient as they are sustainable. One example is the elimination of scope two emissions – emissions from purchased electricity – through a large-scale renewable energy agreement with Tucson Electric Power.��

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But this isn’t just a top-down strategy. The Sustainability & Climate Action Plan is shaped by input from students, faculty, staff, and the broader community, making sustainability at the university collaborative, transparent, and actionable.

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2. Fund: Where Student Ideas Turn Into Real Projects

At some schools, sustainability stays in the classroom. At the U of A, you can take it a step further and put green ideas into action.

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The�� (CSF) gives students the chance to take their ideas and turn them into real projects on campus. So far, more than $1.8 million has supported more than�� that are making campus more sustainable in ways you can actually see. These range from small mini grants to larger annual grants, funding everything from campus events to hands-on research.��

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One mini grant helped bring the Native American Sustainable Design Symposium to campus, where Indigenous architects and designers shared sustainable design approaches rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems.��

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Another annual grant is supporting “Fungi Blocks for Fresh Crops,” a project turning agricultural waste and mushroom mycelia into a sustainable alternative to traditional greenhouse growing materials.

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Even better, the decisions are made by students, too. Funded through the Student Engagement Fee and guided by a student committee, CSF ensures the impact starts – and stays – with the campus community.

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3. Act: No, Your Food Waste Doesn’t Just “Go Away”

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In the last decade,��, in partnership with the City of Tucson, has diverted more than 30 million pounds of food waste from landfills in the Tucson area through their FoodCycle program.��

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FoodCycle takes food scraps collected across campus, as well as from local partners including Hotel Congress, the Tucson Convention Center, and Reid Park Zoo, and turns kitchen scraps into something more.��

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Each week, that waste is taken to the Los Reales Composting Facility, where it’s mixed with carbon-rich materials and transformed into nutrient-rich compost. From there, it goes right back into the community for use in spaces including city parks, campus grounds, local farms, TUSD school gardens, and more.��

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4. Live: A Space to Grow on Campus (Literally)

The�� is a shared space where students and community members can grow food and learn about sustainable gardening. It’s also a place to step away between classes, reset for a bit, and touch some grass.

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Managed by the��, the garden is a space where you can learn how to grow crops in the desert, experiment with new techniques, and build a deeper understanding of food systems and climate resilience.

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Even if you’ve never gardened before, the Community Garden welcomes you in.��

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5. Innovate: The Building Redefining What Sustainability Looks Like

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The Environmental and Natural Resources 2 Building’s (ENR2) central courtyard was modeled after a desert slot canyon, bringing in open air, filtered light, and desert plants that hang into the space and create a cooler, more comfortable environment.

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But the real innovation goes far beyond what you see at the ground level – the�� combines solar energy with a living ecosystem, growing plant life beneath solar panels, allowing energy production and vegetation to work together.��

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It’s a feedback loop built for a desert environment; one that’s actively being studied in real time. Researchers are comparing different planting conditions and tracking everything from soil health to energy output, turning the rooftop into a living lab for the future of sustainable design.

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Where It All Comes Together

From long-term climate planning and student-led projects to cutting-edge rooftop research, it all connects back to the same idea: Sustainability is a way of life for Wildcats.

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It shows up in the systems being designed, the ideas being funded, the spaces students use every day, and the innovations still being tested for what comes next.

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