Sustainability has been getting even more attention than usual this month at Pitt.

Following the Global Town Hall on Pitt’s Oakland campus Sept. 19 and 20, addressing climate, gender and sustainability issues, Provost Ann Cudd joined other leaders from Pittsburgh at a forum during the 74th U.N. General Assembly highlighting regional accomplishments to advance the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The meeting took place Sept. 23 at the Ford Foundation for Social Justice in New York City.

The efforts were summarized during a "Spotlight on Pittsburgh" panel discussion, according to a report from Carnegie Mellon University, whose provost, James Garrett, also participated along with Mayor Bill Peduto;  David Finegold, president of Chatham University; and Lisa Schroeder, president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation.

Pitt also was featured in an article by Public Source on how three Pittsburgh institutions are working to limit their contributions to climate change.

Aurora Sharrard, Pitt’s director of sustainability, told Public Source that one goal in University’s Sustainability Plan is increased transparency. To achieve it, Pitt is implementing an online sustainability dashboard that will go live this fall, where data, like food composting and building-specific energy use, will be visualized. The dashboard is scheduled to go live in the fall.

Pitt this week also joined other signatories in the Cool Food Pledge, a global initiative led by the World Resources Institute to cut food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2030, according to PittWire.

The institute announced Pitt’s membership on Sept. 24, during the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Joining Pitt as new signatories in this groundbreaking initiative are IKEA, BASF, the World Bank and the City of Ghent, Belgium.

— Susan Jones