At Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses, we know that international education is essential to fostering global citizenship, intercultural understanding and humility, equity and social justice, and collective solutions to shared challenges. We also know that travel, especially the carbon footprint of air travel, has a negative impact on climate change and that climate change disproportionately affects countries and communities with fewer resources. As we seek to leave the world better than we found it, the goals of sustainability and those of international education are deeply intertwined. We are committed to incorporating sustainable practices into every aspect of our work, from student and staff travel, to program development and student learning, to marketing and office operations. Inspired by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, we have partnered with Temple’s Office of Sustainability to achieve our mission.

Education Abroad aims to become carbon neutral by 2030, taking a leading role toward fulfilling Temple University’s carbon neutrality goal of 2050. We commit to auditing our processes and programs, reducing our carbon footprint and waste, and investing in reliable offsets, materials and programming that are better for the environment. In 2024, Education Abroad became a CANIE Accord Signatory to reaffirm those commitments. 

We will take a holistic approach that addresses:

Travel Emissions

• Seek to reduce carbon emissions by educating students, staff and faculty about how to be more carbon-conscious travelers. 
• Pursue options for responsible carbon offsets for student and staff travel, including supporting projects that serve Temple’s local communities.

Program Development and Student Learning

• Incorporate sustainability practices and programming into every program. 
• Consider the impact of climate change on host communities and work with them to ensure our programming is mutually beneficial. 
• Share resources to help students understand the impact of travel on climate change and local communities and how they can study abroad more sustainably while enhancing their study abroad experience at the same time.

Business Operations and Marketing

• Maintain a fully online application system.  
• Only print when absolutely necessary. 
• Significantly reduce printed promotional materials and only employ print vendors who use FSC-certified printing methods (soy-based inks and recycled paper). 
• Purchase fewer, sustainably produced promotional items that are higher in quality, better for the environment, and more likely to be used for a longer period of time. 
• Investigate additional options for more sustainable office and event operations.