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Office of Sustainability
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Design

Temple embraces sustainable design and construction best practices to ensure we meet our carbon neutrality commitment. 

More than 70% of Temple's greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to its built environment. Since signing its climate commitment in 2008, Temple added almost 3,000,000 gross square feet of new building space. While Temple has made great strides in alleviating the environmental impact of its campus growth, it is clear that the design, construction, and operation of campus buildings are critical to the university's ability to meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.  

Learn more about our goals and the progress we've made.

Design Goals

Incorporate green building standards for renovation, new construction and landscape projects into the University’s adopted green building policy by 2019.

ACHIEVED: Many Green Building Standards are being incorproated into Temple Design Standards.  New large construction projects set LEED Silver minimum as the goal.

Develop Temple standards for new and existing building design and campus infrastructure that incorporate sustainability and climate resilience by 2020.

ACHIEVED: All new major construction and major renovation projects will be designed to meet or exceed LEED silver. All campus infrastructure and systems will be designed to ASHRAE 90.1- 2019. 

Develop and adopt technical specifications for all projects that incorporate its sustainable design framework by 2021.

IN PROGRESS: Technical specifications for plumbing have been developed for all projects. Technical specifications for mechanical and electrical systems are being developed for publication by 2022.

Complete the full implementation of the Verdant Temple Landscape Master Plan by 2030.

IN PROGRESS: Temple University has completed many iconic projects including the transformation of significant portions of Polett and Liacouras Walk. Both projects integrated sustainable stormwater management.