Students may not always notice USC’s climate initiatives, but they pass them daily. They move past native plants, zero-emission buildings and recycling robots. As the university marks Earth Day, experts say campuses like USC are at the forefront of climate diplomacy.
At USC, Georgina Grenon — who contributed to the Paris Agreement, the 2015 global accord aimed at limiting climate change and later led the sustainability efforts for the Paris 2024 Olympics — spoke at an event co-hosted by the Center on Public Diplomacy and the Center for Climate Journalism and Communication, bringing together students and experts to discuss how sustainability leadership is increasingly used as a tool in diplomacy.
In an interview with Annenberg Media, she described climate action as both a technical challenge and a question of alignment, messaging and culture.
“Institutions like universities have a unique position — and a unique responsibility,” Grenon said, adding that campuses can shape behavior more directly by setting their own standards and expectations. Students, she said, form habits and values that shape how they approach sustainability in their own careers.
One student pointed to small, routine practices as the primary point of contact with sustainability.
“The only thing I’ve really noticed is the compost, recycling and landfills bins,” said Diolanda Caballero, a communication management graduate student. “That’s where I’m unconsciously thinking about it.”
Other students said those practices are shaped as much by personal values as by institutional initiatives.
“I try to have as many sustainable habits as I can already, so Earth Day for me is more of a symbolic date rather than an active behavioral change,” said Zhamilya Mussaibekova, a senior majoring in cognitive science. She added that campus infrastructure, such as recycling bins, can support those habits, but does not necessarily create them.
But another student said campus efforts are not always visible in their day-to-day experience.
“We have so much going on with our lives that we don’t really pay much attention to the events and things going on at USC,” said Minaal Adnan, a master’s student in communication management. She added that Earth Day initiatives are not always apparent to students who spend limited time on campus.
Grenon said that the gap between individual behavior and institutional influence reflects a broader challenge in climate action. Drawing on her role as sustainability director for the Paris Olympics, she described progress as dependent on coordination and clear messaging.
“There has to be a message for the world to understand what we stand for,” Grenon said.
She added that sustainability efforts are most effective when they are embedded in a community’s identity. “You could build a sense of community not just through colors or sports teams, but around who we are and where we are,” she said.
That kind of integration is increasingly visible through “Assignment: Earth,” a USC-wide framework launched in 2022 that outlines 29 sustainability goals across education, research, operations and community engagement, according to USC’s sustainability initiative. The framework aims to move sustainability beyond isolated events like Earth Day and embed it into the university’s long-term vision.
Last year, USC reported a 51% increase in sustainability-focused undergraduate courses. The university plans to expand offerings from 102 courses in 2021 to 172 by 2028, according to the university’s Assignment: Earth annual report. Experiential learning opportunities have also grown, connecting students to sustainability research, internships and applied projects across campus.
“You have to work with others. You have to team up across different competencies, build on diversity and different experiences, so that together you’re much stronger than the sum of the individuals,” Grenon explained.
At USC, that emphasis on institutional culture is reflected in campus data. A 2026 survey found that between 61% and 72.7% of faculty, staff and students reported a sense of belonging, a key driver of engagement in collective efforts across campus.
According to Grenon, those developments reflect a broader transformation in how institutions approach climate action, one that depends not on a single discipline or career path but on collective participation.
“Whatever you study, you can contribute,” she said.