In 2003, McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences was signatory to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme designating it as a UNEP Collaborating Centre in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The mandate of the EIA centre is to conduct EIA-related teaching, training and research, and to promote EIA best practices, objectives and benefits through advanced seminars, workshops and colloquia. It aims at facilitating capacity building in support of programmes implementing sustainable development in partnership with other institutions and responsible agencies.

The approach of McGill University and its UNEP Collaborating Centre towards capacity building for integrated policy design and sustainable development implementation follows from the university mission of teaching, scholarship and service to society. Long-term commitments in capacity building involve the training of graduate students from developing countries and Canada, through thesis research and fieldwork in areas relevant to sustainable development goals. Such activities can embrace both policy and practice, taking place at the university and through fieldwork in developing countries.