For the fifth consecutive year, CSU Monterey Bay has been named one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the country by The Princeton Review.

CSUMB is featured in the 2015 edition of “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 353 Green Colleges.” Published April 16, a few days before the annual celebration of Earth Day, the free guide can be downloaded.

The university is cited for having a “formidable green pedigree.”

The guide noted that CSUMB was an early signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, and is working toward its goal of being carbon-neutral by 2030 through projects such as the six-acre solar installation that is meeting 16 percent of the university’s electricity needs.

Also drawing praise was the university’s food service, which includes organic foods, composting of all pre- and post-consumer food waste, using compostable packaging and serving products and recycling cooking oil.

In 2013, the guide noted, CSUMB achieved an “astonishing” 79 percent waste-diversion rate, due to the ubiquitous blue recycle bins, an end-of-school-year move-out recycling and donation event and the fact that 90 percent of demolition material from former Army buildings is recycled.

Even more impressive, according to the guide, is that 90 percent of campus buildings have undergone energy-related retrofits in the last few years. Custodians use Green Seal Certified cleaning products.

The green learning opportunities, which allow students to take courses in subjects as diverse as environmental writing and food ethics, were also cited.

The guide pointed out that the commitment to green continues all the way to graduation – when students cross the stage to receive their degrees in gowns sewn with material made from recycled plastic bottles.

The guide is based on a survey the company conducted in 2014. It asked administrators at hundreds of colleges about their institution’s sustainability-related policies, practices and programs. Using survey data that covered 25 fields, the guide tallied its “Green Ratings” – scores from 60 to 99– for more than 800 schools. The schools in the guide earned scores of 83 or above.