Catawba College

Catawba Green Revolving Fund

The Catawba Green Revolving Fund (GRF) will help Catawba College reach its institutional goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2030.

Students, some of whom will pursue one of Catawba’s four environmental degree programs (Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, Environmental Education, and Sustainable Business and Community Development), will have the opportunity to help implement and monitor projects funded through the GRF.

Catawba College has a history of commitment to environmental and sustainability issues dating back to the early ‘90s. It was the first campus in North Carolina, and among the first in the nation, to place campus-owned property under a permanent conversation easement. Its Center for the Environment building was one of the first green-designed academic buildings in the Southeast, built in 2001 prior to the LEED’s program. This building, adjacent to Catawba’s 189-acre ecological preserve, is a learning backdrop for the programming efforts that the Center has provided to our region regarding everything from Clean Air and alternative transportation to locally sourced food. The college’s efforts have continued to grow campus-wide with its Sustainable Catawba Initiative and its commitment as a signatory in the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

Over four years, the Catawba Green Revolving Fund will reach a $400,000 level, with funds set aside annually from the operating budget, donor gifts, and savings realized from sustainability projects already in place.

The higher education participants in The Challenge are managed by Second Nature. To learn more about how Second Nature plans to expand use of GRFs in higher education, visit their page!