Environment & Sustainability

By launching new courses and degree programs, we will educate students to understand the environmental impact of their work and advocate for sustainable practices, regardless of their future vocation.

The Earth Commons will emphasize cross-disciplinary and experiential learning, building on models such as Core Pathways and The CALL, and leveraging partnerships with organizations across D.C. to enhance the student learning experience.

Seeking to reach 500 students by 2025, we will launch a full suite of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. Beginning in fall 2022, Georgetown will offer a Master’s of Science-Environment and Sustainability Management (MS-ESM), jointly delivered with the Georgetown McDonough School of Business. Students will rotate through the thematic Commons (see below) during their studies at Georgetown to build a broad foundation in all aspects of caring for our common home.

The Earth Commons will center around problem-solving, transforming research into policy, policy into law, and law into change on the ground. Interdisciplinary teams of faculty, students, and partners across industries and governments will not only advance research but also pursue solutions to challenges in areas like climate change, food and water security, and sustainability.

We will offer innovative externships, allowing students to work in environmental organizations both in D.C. and abroad on real-world solutions to complex environmental challenges.

We seek to grow our research enterprise, expanding our faculty, recognizing emerging leaders, and securing additional federal and private funding.

The institute will organize its teaching and research activities around specific high-impact environmental and sustainability problems. We will pursue project-based work, convening cross-functional teams, pursuing research grants, and producing findings that inform and inspire action.

We will put our experiments and expertise into practice on our own campuses, reimagining what it means to be a truly green institution—in our operations, and in our work of formation and inquiry.

Georgetown is building the urban campus of the future. We have bold and rigorous sustainability targets: becoming carbon neutral and water positive by 2030, and achieving “100% renewable power” by 2035.

We also will turn our campuses into laboratories, where students can nurture sustainable living habits, putting their academic studies into practice.

We will use our campus as a living laboratory for students, faculty, and partners to design and implement sustainability solutions—for instance, developing a sustainable living learning community in our new 55 H Street dormitory and building gardens to support experiential learning and partnerships with food-insecure communities in D.C.