Xavier University–Ateneo de Cagayan (Xavier Ateneo) recognizes that today’s socio-ecological crises are deeply interconnected with human lifestyles and practices—many of which have proven harmful and destructive to the environment. At the same time, every positive act of care for our common home contributes meaningfully to addressing these global challenges.
As a Filipino, Catholic and Jesuit university, Xavier Ateneo’s mission centers on transformative education—an education that helps shift the prevailing worldview from being economy-centered to one that is ecology-centered. Through teaching, research, formation, and community engagement, the University strives to form individuals who live out responsible stewardship and compassionate service for creation and humanity.
Early Commitment to Sustainability
Xavier Ateneo’s commitment to sustainability began as early as the 2010s, when it became the home of the Regional Centre of Expertise-Northern Mindanao on Education for Sustainable Development (RCE). The RCE is a global network of formal, non-formal, and informal education organizations mobilized to deliver education for sustainable development (ESD) in their respective regions. Each RCE works to localize the global objectives of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005–2014) by translating them into concrete initiatives and programs that benefit local communities. By joining this network, Xavier Ateneo affirmed its commitment to advancing the UN’s vision for sustainability through education and community partnership.
Establishing the Green Campus Agenda
Around the same period, Xavier Ateneo established the Green Campus Agenda (GCA) to strengthen the University’s environmental policies and initiatives. The GCA is responsible for conceptualizing, organizing, coordinating, monitoring, and updating the University’s programs related to environmental sustainability. Through the GCA, Xavier Ateneo institutionalized sustainability as a guiding principle in campus operations, ensuring that ecological consciousness is embedded in decision-making and everyday practices.
Responding to the Call of Laudato Si’
Being long recognized as a leader and catalyst in environmental science and technology, Xavier Ateneo commits to transforming persons and systems for ecological action. As Xavier Ateneo approaches its 100th year, this commitment is expressed in its resolute response to Pope Francis's call to care for our common home. Its commitment to social justice and the person's integral development has led the university to formally embark on a seven-year journey to become a Laudato Si' University. Xavier Ateneo is one of the very few and first universities in the Philippines that has promulgated and submitted to the Vatican its Laudato Si` University Plan in 2022.
In addition, the university community recognizes the imperative to further enhance the Green Campus Agenda beginning in year 2023 to employ new and innovative green technology across campuses and incorporate these in the building plans of those that are being constructed, and establish linkages with other University offices and centers to advance its agenda. Furthermore, Xavier Ateneo formed the Laudato Si’ University Committee, a team tasked to lead the university’s journey toward becoming a Laudato Si’ University.
The mission has been strengthened by the recent pronouncements of Pope Leo XIV, who has emphasized that the care for our common home is an "absolute moral imperative" for the contemporary Church. In his recent apostolic exhortation, Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed the urgency of the Laudato Si' goals, praising academic institutions that move beyond theory into concrete, systemic change. His support provides a renewed spiritual mandate for the university to deepen its ecological conversion and accelerate its efforts in responding to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.
For Xavier Ateneo, this initiative is not merely an institutional project, but a commitment to live more sustainably, and in harmony with our universal identity as stewards of God’s creation and people.
Through these goals, the University reaffirms its Jesuit mission to form persons for and with others—faithful stewards of creation and compassionate builders of a more just and sustainable world.
Continuing the Journey
Today, Xavier Ateneo continues to strengthen its initiatives on sustainability and integral ecology through its academic programs, campus operations, and community partnerships. Guided by the Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preferences, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the spirit of Laudato Si’, the University envisions a community that embodies ecological conversion—one that seeks harmony with creation and works toward lasting social transformation.
With faith as its foundation and action as its expression, Xavier Ateneo remains steadfast in its commitment to be a university that educates, inspires, and leads the way toward a future where all creation can thrive.