Prince George, B.C. – The University of Northern B.C. has, for the fifth year in a row, been named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers.

The six-member list is compiled by editors of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project and recognizes employers that feature unique environmental initiatives and programs and have had success in reducing their carbon footprint. It also recognizes that the initiatives are definitively linked to the employer’s public identity.

Among the reasons for UNBC’s selection are the fact that it maintains a Green University Planning Committee dedicated to green initiatives on campus and in the wider region; manages a “Green Fund” that fuels sustainability projects across the campus; and operates a biomass gasification facility that uses wood residue from a local sawmill to produce clean renewable energy. The facility achieved the LEED Platinum certification standard and heats the main buildings of the university’s Prince George campus as well as reduces demand for fossil fuel heating by 85 percent.

“Our employees and students have a passion for sustainability, and we see their passion demonstrated daily around our campus. Their efforts mean that not only are we an environmental champion, but we do things that allow us to operate more efficiently as well,” says UNBC President Daniel Weeks. “To be named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for the fifth consecutive year is something of which we should all be very proud.”

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Editor’s Note:  A correction to the second paragraph of the above article, which should read “UNBC was one of six universities on the list”, and not that it was a six-member list.  Please excuse the error.