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Sustainability in our School

The School of Construction and the Environment is concerned with the natural environment, the built environment and the relationship between them. We work to embed sustainability across our curriculum and programs. We foster sustainability in education and operations. We are a leader in sustainability education and training.

Sustainability Highlights

Ecocity World Summit

The School of Construction and the Environment had submitted a bid in collaboration with Tourism Vancouver and the Vancouver Convention Centre West to host the Ecocity World Summit in 2019. Due to the School’s leadership in education and training for sustainable built environments, Vancouver successfully won the bid to host the next Ecocity World Summit from October 7 to 11, 2019. The BCIT community and its many partners participated at this opportunity to connect individuals and organizations to likeminded people around the world.

Since 1990, this globally focused conference has run every two years in such diverse locations as Melbourne, Australia and Abu Dhabi, UAE, and we were delighted to bring it to Vancouver. The conference brought together over 1000 delegates from around the world to discuss issues of urban sustainability. The theme was ‘Socially Just and Ecologically Sustainable Cities’. The School had taken the lead to convene the conference program. At the Summit, BCIT was also excited to launch the Centre for Ecocities.


Sustainability Speaker Series

The Sustainability Speaker Series highlights exciting topics in sustainability that are relevant to the students in the School of Construction and the Environment.

BCIT student applied research project advances beaver habitat restoration

Beavers are industrious engineers in the animal kingdom and play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Beaver dams create wetlands, which serve as crucial habitats for a diverse range...

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BCIT becomes a BC Hydro Clean Energy Champion

BCIT has been awarded a prestigious Clean Energy Champion award from BC Hydro. The Award recognises businesses, homes, and institutions – large and small –  for reducing their reliance on...

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BCIT plants new orchard close to Guichon Creek

BCIT has planted a new orchard on the Burnaby Campus on a previously unused area of lawn close to Guichon creek on the south side of campus. The team from...

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New BCIT course focuses on why it matters how we talk about the climate emergency

From forest fires to floods, Canadians are not immune to the ever-worsening effects of the climate crisis. Despite the worsening effects of extreme weather – fueled by climate change –...

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UN-Habitat’s SDG Cities Canada Report: Tracking Canada’s sustainability progress

On June 25, the United Nations – Habitat, Sustainable Development Goals Cities released its SDG Cities Canada Report tracking the progress of Canadian cities in implementing the UN Sustainable Development...

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The School of Construction and the Environment adopted a Sustainability Framework to inform all educational programs, research and operational activities. The Sustainability Framework is premised on the global challenge to live within the Earth’s carrying capacity, to provide equal opportunity to the world’s population, and to account for all costs and benefits of decisions. Learn more about the Sustainability Framework and the International Ecocity Framework.