Health & Well-being
Healthy Planet, Healthy People
From our campus buildings and landscape to transportation, food, and energy, our activities to improve the environment can also enhance the health and well-being of the Yale community, as well as those surrounding it.
Yale’s Efforts
- In 2015 Yale announced its tobacco-free public health campaign, which reflects the University’s commitment to reduce pollution and provide a healthier environment for all members of the campus community.
- Yale Hospitality emphasizes the importance of health and wellness through its food service offerings. Examples of the Yale Hospitality offerings include a plant-based protein program, salt reduction initiative, spa water program, emphasis on local food sourcing and catch of the day, and more.
- Yale’s custodial teams utilize a technology that uses electrolysis (a mixture of water, electricity and salt) to provide a powerful and disinfecting solution that avoids the use of chemicals entirely. In addition, they follow a set of Green Cleaning Standards that promote human health, and health of the environment.
- The Yale Climate Change and Health Initiative utilizes Yale’s multidisciplinary expertise and global reach to train future leaders, provide a comprehensive educational program, and catalyze innovative research, all to address one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century.
What You Can Do
- Get active! Utilize the Yale Shuttle or other public transportation, walk or bike around campus.
- Refer to our Healthy Meeting Guidelines when planning a meeting or event.
- Save energy. Reducing energy use improves air quality as well.
Our Objectives and Goals
A Healthy, Vibrant Campus
Encourage decision-making and behaviors that lead to a healthy, vibrant campus and surrounding community.
Three members of the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health (YCCCH) were co-authors of the influential 2024 Lancet Countdown report on health and climate change. The Countdown is an annual international assessment of progress toward the climate mitigation goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. YCCCH faculty member Jodi Sherman contributed sections on health care sector emissions and associated air pollution. Faculty members Lingzhi Chu and Robert Dubrow contributed a section on air conditioning, which found striking inequities in access to this life-saving technology.
Sustainability, Health, and Well-Being
ACHIEVED
By 2025, advance universitywide programs and policies to improve health and well-being outcomes.
This goal was established to forge a meaningful connection between health and sustainability, influencing a multitude of programs and policies over the span of nine years. We explored health impact assessments and a “Health in All Policies” approach to decision-making; created and deployed a Collective Well-being Assessment to measure community thriving on campus; improved our green cleaning practices and created new healthy building design standards; facilitated regional conversations on nature and health; and continue to support and embed health and well-being into our campus culture to foster resiliency and enhance psychological safety.
Resilient Food Systems
Promote resilient food systems through on-campus food service and community-wide efforts.
Food Literacy and Resilience
ACHIEVED
By 2020, align University efforts to increase awareness of health benefits of sustainability initiatives and improve health outcomes.
This goal was achieved in 2020. Yale Hospitality has continued to raise awareness around sustainable and healthy food, through cross-departmental collaborations, student food enrichment events, and healthy menu architecture.
Sustainable Catering
ACHIEVED
By 2020, establish campus-wide sustainable catering standards.
This goal was achieved in 2020, when a comprehensive matrix of sustainable catering criteria was developed for external vendors, including considerations around diversity, menu development, health, labor, waste, and communication. Internally, Yale Hospitality has prioritized sustainable catering by focusing on reusable materials, exploring the purchase of electric vehicles for their fleet, and supporting local businesses.