Environmental Sustainability at Yale: An Organizational Map
November 2023
Yale is well engaged with environmental sustainability through its three divisions in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (Humanities, Social Sciences, Science), 14 graduate and professional schools, and nearly 100 departments, as well as centers, initiatives, programs, student organizations, institutes, laboratories, museum, and other efforts. In 2020 Yale launched the Planetary Solutions Project to “unite leadership and experts across disciplines to tackle the environmental challenges threatening life on Earth” and to bring greater coherence to these University efforts. And in 2023, the University created the new position of Vice Provost for Planetary Solutions to lead that effort by establishing strategic priorities for the initiative. At a university as large and complex as Yale, this is no small feat. The Planetary Solutions Organizations website lists many of the programs now underway, many of an interdisciplinary nature. In addition, Yale Blue Green has identified the programs below to highlight the role played by many of the schools, and to illustrate the kinds of other initiatives that exist. As Yale develops its leadership role to address the climate and environmental crises, it is promoting significant interdisciplinary approaches to find solutions to these complex problems. This list of resources is an attempt to reflect at least a portion of the effort underway.
I. Planetary Solutions
The Planetary Solutions Project
Yale’s Approach to Climate Change
II. Schools
Center for Ecosystems in Architecture
Sustainability and Eco-theology Initiative
Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering
Yale Center for Industrial Ecology
Carbon Containment Lab (CC Lab)
Center for Industrial Ecology (CIE)
Environmental Leadership Training Initiative (ELTI)
Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative (JEDSI)
SEARCH Center: Solutions for Energy, Air, Climate, and Health
Tropical Resources Institute (TRI)
Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative
Urban Resources Initiative (URI)
Yale Applied Science Synthesis Program (YASSP)
Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY)
Yale Center for Environmental Communication
Yale Center for Environmental Justice
Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP)
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology (FORE)
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC)
Affiliated: Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS)
Affiliated: Yale Center for Earth Observation
Affiliated: Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture
Affiliated: Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (CITY)
Environmental Protection Clinic (with Yale School of the Environment)
Law, Ethics and Animals Program
Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (with Yale School of the Environment)
Yale Center for Environmental Justice (with Yale School of the Environment)
- School of Management (SOM)
Yale Center for Business and the Environment
YSE SOM Joint Degree Program
Yale Institute for Global Health
Yale Center on Climate Change and Health
Other Yale Professional Schools: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Art, Drama, Music
III. Offices
Office of Sustainability
IV. Departments, Centers and Programs and Institutes (selection)
Center for Genetic Analyses of Biodiversity
Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale
Center for Natural Carbon Capture
Center for the Study of Globalization
Climate and History Initiative
Energy Studies Multidisciplinary Academic Program
Environmental Humanities Initiative
Max Planck-Yale Center for Biodiversity Movement and Global Change
Program in Eco-Evolutionary Interactions
Program on the Evolution of Flower Form and Function
Program in Reproductive Ecology
Program in Spatial Biodiversity Science and Conservation
Sustainability Enabled Exploration at Yale (SEE@Yale)
Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY)
Yale Center for Biodiversity and Global Change
Yale Center for Environmental Communication (YCEC)
Yale Center for the Study of Globalization
Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS)
Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
V. Student Environmental Groups
Yale’s Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC )
YSEC Member Groups:
Environmentalists of Color Collective, Endowment Justice Coalition, Environmental Education Collaborative, GREEN, Students for Carbon Dividends, Yale Outdoors, Yale Sustainable Consulting Collective