Programs

NYUAD collaborates with the NYU New York campus to strengthen and support the vision and goal of a sustainable campus. The Green Grants program aims to encourage students interested in undertaking sustainability projects on campus to utilize their potential toward the pathway of learning and implementing sustainability related innovations in the institution.

The Office of Sustainability operates programs to fund ideas, ignite behavior change, and engage community members. Explore programs below:

Green Grants

Get Funded

NYU Green Grants are awarded to improve the university's operational environmental performance, foster environmental literacy and community engagement, advance applied research and design, expand sustainability learning opportunities, and demonstrate the viability of best practices and technologies for sustainability. The Green Grants Selection Committee awards up to $20,000 for the most feasible, impactful, and innovative projects that have potential for institutionalization or are self-sustaining.

Current NYU students, faculty, and staff at any of NYU campuses or global sites may apply as project leaders for a Green Grant. Alumni, community organizations, and interested neighbors are permitted and encouraged to collaborate as members of project teams.

Green Grants are awarded to projects seeking to advance campus sustainability initiatives or enact social-entrepreneurial ventures. Green Grant projects should explore one or more of the following categories:
- Operations: Projects that pilot innovative ways to improve the material, physical, or infrastructural elements at NYU.
- Engagement: Projects that foster a campus culture of sustainability.
- Research and Design: Projects that can be integrated within the university campus or community through use of NYU as a testbed for data collection, or by producing deliverables with potential to catalyze operational, academic or cultural change at NYU. These projects include entrepreneurial ventures.
- Academic: Projects that improve NYU's capacity for educating about sustainability, including curricular initiatives.
Please review our Green Grants Guidelines for detailed instructions.

We recommend that you first submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) form so that NYU's Office of Sustainability can help you develop a formal proposal for funding.

After receiving feedback on your EOI, fill out the Green Grants Proposal Form (.DOC: 46 KB) and email it to green.grants@nyu.edu before the next deadline.

Learn more about how to apply
At this time the Green Grants program will be operating in a limited capacity. If you have an idea for a project, please reach out to green.grants@nyu.edu.

Visit the NYU Green Grants page for more information

Green Workplace Certification

NYUAD’s Green Workplace Certification is a self-reporting program for administrators to be recognized for the measures they are taking to make their workplaces more sustainable.

The Green Workplace Certification Checklist consists of operational changes and actions relating to electronics and equipment, purchasing, food and pantry set-up, waste management, travel and transportation, conference attendance, and remote work. Every action has a point value that has been determined according to relative environmental impact and ease of implementation.

List of Certified Offices

Certified Platinum Green Workplace Offices Since 2022

Join the Green Workplace Certification Program

To participate, please email nyuad.sustainability@nyu.edu.

After NYUAD — Alumni Programs

We love to invite alumni working in sustainability industries to participate in events and speak with current students. Stay in contact with the Office of Sustainability.

Stay in Touch

Email us:
nyuad.sustainability@nyu.edu

CDC Sustainability Internship Opportunities

The Office of Sustainability and Stewardship in collaboration with the Career Development Center (CDC) has established a number of strategic partnerships with UAE organizations, including the Department of Energy, Tabreed, the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, the UAE-wide Dolphin Project, and many others, to curate summer internship programs in the fields of environmental protection and sustainability.

The specific aim of the collaboration is to help NYU Abu Dhabi students gain exposure and experience in these fields and ultimately build a highly-skilled in-country workforce for the Year of Sustainability as well as the UAE 2050 Energy Goals.

Go Green Week

Each year, NYUAD hosts Go Green Week, a week-long series of events, activities, off-campus trips, and tours for the entire NYUAD community. Please refer to previous years' events below:

- Dean's Majlis
  An intentional discussion about sustainability initiatives on campus and how to eat and think healthier.
- Plan(t)ing Your Meals: A Vegetarianism How-to
  A session offered by NYUAD's Clinical Dietitian, exploring the impacts a plant-based diet can have on physical health and the healthy ways to incorporate it into daily lifestyle.
- SWAP Shop Collection
  An opportunity to trade in no-longer-loved clothes, shoes, bags, and jewelry for NYUAD’s on-campus free thrift store. Drop off clothes and get a whole new wardrobe while saving money, the earth, and fashion sense.
- Wood Workshop Tour
  Tours of The Arts Center’s Wood Workshop and a discussion with an Instructor of Sculpture on the recycling processes behind wood. Learn more about the courses offered in Studio Woodworking and Tool Training, as well as other ways to get engaged.
- Be Mineful
  Provides labels for reusable water bottles, coffee cups, and any other items to keep track of.
- Waste Management Tours
  A short 30-minute tour in Go Green Week’s program to better understand the recycling process that goes on at NYUAD and learn how to live sustainably. Understanding the process properly will help the staff make their job easier and improve the environment.
- Careers in Sustainability Panel
  Featuring professionals working in the environmental sustainability sphere in different capacities and learn about their career journeys. Learn about building a career in environmentalism or integrating this important cause into a different field.
- Family Event: Book Reading
  Families and campus kids can join in for storytime and activities.
- Family Event: Goin’ Greener on the High Line!
  Join RAs, Residential Education Interns, and Res Ed staff throughout the day for fruits, games, and trivia on sustainability in the RCs.
- Email Marathon to Reduce Single-use Plastics
  Urge product vendors to switch to more sustainable packaging (less plastic, no Styrofoam, compostable, or paper wrapping). A simple but potentially impactful way to show strength in numbers.
- Kayaking on Jubail Island
  A sanctuary for marine species native to Abu Dhabi, Jubail Mangrove Park enhances the appreciation and understanding of the important functions of the mangrove habitat to the Abu Dhabi Coastline.
- Emirates Bio Farm Festival
  As a part of the Go Green’s initiative to inspire creating a positive impact on the environment, a group of students, staff, faculty, and contracted colleagues tour Emirates Bio Farm, the largest privately owned farm in the UAE.
- Community Bike Share Ride
  Explore Saadiyat Island and learn about sustainable transportation and activities around the Island using the NYUAD bikeshare.

Climate Conversations Lecture Series

These talks discuss the impact of climate change on global communities and the importance of facilitating multi-sector solutions to address the “grand challenge” of our time. Watch a recording of the inaugural event below.

Environmental Justice
Global water security

October 6, 2021

In collaboration with the Office of Inclusion and Equity the panel discussion featured the impact of climate change on global communities and the importance of facilitating multi-sector solutions to address the “grand challenge” of our time. Panelists from academic, non-profit, and intergovernmental organizations will discussed the intersecting responsibilities of combating climate change and deconstruct the systemic issues that put historically marginalized and low-income communities globally at an elevated risk of experiencing environmental hazards (i.e. pollution, food insecurity, airborne and waterborne illnesses, etc.).

Click here to view the recorded session.
May 25, 2022

The session explored the main threats to water security with the objective of sharing insights and identifying actions to tackle water-related security risks specifically in the UAE based on a shared understanding and close collaboration between government , private sector and the academia.

Click here to listen to the recorded podcast.