Green Workspace Program Details

Submit the Green Workspace Interest Form.

• All interested workspaces must submit the Green Workspace Interest Form to indicate their interest in joining a cohort.
• Following the program timeline below, interested offices will be accepted into fall or spring cohorts in the order in which they submit the interest form.
• To ensure the Office of Sustainability can provide personalized support, only a select number of workspaces will be accepted into a cohort each semester. Those who are not accepted will remain on the interest list for the following semester.

Define and register your Green Workspace and Green Workspace Leadership Team.

• Your Green Workspace can be your unit, office, or department, however we suggest grouping yourself based on who you share physical spaces with and/or who you regularly communicate with.
• Your Green Workspace Leadership Team should be appropriate for the size of your Green Workspace. A general rule of thumb is one Green Workspace Leadership Team member per 15-20 staff members. If you have a small workspace, you can identify just one Green Workspace Leader.
• Graduate students can support your office in completing Green Workspace certification, however they cannot serve as Green Workspace leaders.
• Gain approval from your office or department head. 
• The Office of Sustainability will share the registration form once your workspace is selected for a semester cohort. 

Attend a 1:1 consultation with the OS to create an action plan and define your goals. 

• The Office of Sustainability will contact your Green Workspace Leadership Team to schedule a meeting.
• Please review the Green Workplace checklist ahead of your 1:1 to identify which actions your Green Workspace Leadership Team would like to pursue.
• The Office of Sustainability will send you the pre-assessment form to indicate which actions you already do, want to do, or cannot do. You can view the resource guide for the checklist which provides additional details and links for how to complete each action.

Implement your action plan by completing the Green Workspace checklist and encouraging at least 30% of your Green Workspace members to earn their Sustainability Badge. 

• Download the checklist here. Note that you must complete at least two actions in each category. We encourage you to utilize the innovation credits to celebrate the unique work of your Green Workspace! Visit the Innovation Credits page to learn more.
• At least 30% of your Green Workspace must earn their Sustainability Badge. Graduate students working in your workspace may earn a Sustainability Badge which can count towards the 30%. 
• We highly encourage workspaces to consider pursuing an innovation credit. Workspaces who go above and beyond the Green Workspace program requirements may receive a Special Award at the May appreciation lunch. Learn more about Innovation Credits and special awards here. 

Attend cohort meetings with fellow Green Workspace Leadership Teams.

• Cohort meetings for the fall semester will take place in October and November. Meetings for the spring semester will take place in February and March.

Certify that you’ve completed all of the Green Workspace Certification requirements.

• The certification form will be shared by the Office of Sustainability once your workspace is accepted into a semester cohort. This form is to be completed after you complete all certification materials. 
• You should complete your certification over the course of the semester in which you are registered. Certification materials are due by December 1st and April 15th for the fall and spring semesters, respectively.

There will be a Green Workspace Appreciation Lunch each spring to celebrate the year's certified workspaces and to distribute special awards.

• Certification lasts for three years, but workspaces are highly encouraged to continue implementing new actions and hosting new activities each year.
• Please contact the Office of Sustainability to notify us if the Green Workspace Leader/Leadership Team contact changes at any point. 
• The Office of Sustainability will send each workspace a reminder that their certification is expiring. To recertify, each workspace will need to complete the interest form to begin the process of completing all of the certification steps listed above. 

We highly encourage workspaces to contact the Office of Sustainability at sustainability@umd.edu with any ideas for innovation or questions during the three years in which their certification is active.

• Thank you for your interest in participating in the Green Workspace Program! The Office of Sustainability staff will contact the workspaces accepted into each semester's cohort following the timeline above. In the meantime, all interested workspaces are encouraged to review the program details and begin identifying their action plan for completing the program certification steps. 
• You and your colleagues can also consider earning a Sustainability Badge!

• Cohorts will meet virtually twice per semester. The meetings will be no more than 1 hour, and they will be scheduled as early in the semester as possible. Cohort meetings will provide an opportunity to ask the Office of Sustainability and fellow workspaces questions about achieving certification and to learn about sustainability resources and opportunities. 
• The Green Workspace cohorts exist to provide participating workspace an opportunity to to network, collaborate, and troubleshoot with fellow staff and faculty. Cohorts also allow the Office of Sustainability staff to provide more individualized support to participating workspaces and to better help you track your progress towards earning Green Workspace certification. 

• Green Office certifications expire one year after they are earned. Offices that did not recertify in the 2022-2023 year are no longer considered Green Office certified, and those interested should now begin transitioning to the new Green Workspace program.
• Because Green Workspace is launching as a pilot in fall 2023, offices who earned an updated GO certification in the 2022-2023 academic year will be offered a one-year extension on their Green Office certification. After that, these Green Office participants will no longer be recognized as certified and they will need to join the new Green Workspace program. 

For those who are not able to obtain approval or support from their office or department head, there is now an individual option for taking action. Any staff or faculty can earn a Sustainability Badge regardless of their office or department’s participation in the Green Workspace Program. 

The Office of Sustainability is also available to meet with you and your office or department head to further explain the Green Workspace program and the value of participating.

In this transition to the new Green Workspace program, you will have the opportunity to build on previous Green Office progress and certifications. Green Workspace will continue to encourage improvements to physical spaces, but it will also provide options to take individual action, opportunities to learn with a cohort of fellow offices, and avenues for implementing innovative ideas and creating community. Whereas the Green Office certification lasted one year, the Green Workspace certification will last for three years.