Developing an environmental management system for a multiple-university consortium

South Carolinaʹs three research universities — Clemson, Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina — have come together through the Sustainable Universities Initiative (SUI) to incorporate sustainability into their own institutions, and, by extension, other institutions in the state. Coordinating an effort by three such large and diverse institutions is a challenge. One tool we think will assist us in this endeavor is an environmental management system geared specifically toward the needs of higher education. This paper briefly describes SUI and offers an in-depth view of our plans for the development of a statewide higher education EMS.