The University of Ottawa continues to shine as a leader in sustainability, as highlighted in the QS World University Sustainability Rankings 2025.

Leftover food from conferences, ceremonies, events and meetings held at uOttawa is now available to students. Staff send out alerts about leftover food instead of having it end up in compost or landfill.

The University of Ottawa has signed the Nature Positive Universities Pledge in 2022, an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme. This means we're doing our part to address both the climate and biodiversity crises, to build more resilient ecosystems, help nature recover, and limit climate change.

2024 progress includes:

• Launched the Nature Positive working group
• Conducted two small bioblitzes
• Completed several projects to increase or enhance biodiversity and green space. The largest extensive green roof was installed on the University Centre building, and another green roof was added to the Tabaret building. This will help increase stormwater absorption and reduce the urban heat island effect. Two garden sites next to William Commanda Hall and Academic Hall were transformed from empty woodchipped areas to native pollinator-friendly gardens. A total of 365 plants were added to 1,600 m2 of garden space, increasing the amount of pollinator habitat. Two smaller garden sites also had additional native plants added to complete the space.
• Two hand-drawn, anti-collision murals to reduce bird strikes were added to sections of windows in older buildings where bird strikes and deaths had been reported in 2023.