Pledging Climate Neutral Campuses

Pledging Climate Neutral Campuses



Feb 2007 - Seventy-nine 
college and university presidents have promised to achieve 
"climate neutrality" on their campuses. Called the American 
College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, the 
agreement is modeled after a similar pact made by city mayors 
across the country. 
Climate neutrality is the point at which campus carbon dioxide 
emissions are offset by the use of renewable energy and the 
oxygen released from trees and other plants on campuses. 
Signed mostly by the heads of smaller institutions, the 
signers do include heads of larger schools such as University 
of Florida with more than 50,000 students, the University of 
Colorado-Boulder with 29,000 students, and the University of 
Hawaii Manoa campus with 20,600 students. 
The founding members of the climate commitment effort aim have 
signatures on letters of support from more than 1,000 
university presidents by the end of 2009. 
The presidents are working with the Association for the 
Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, ecoAmerica 
and Second Nature to achieve their climate neutral goals. 
The climate commitment pledge asks universities to develop an 
institutional plan within two years outlining how they can 
neutralize their effects on the climate. In the meantime, 
universities are asked to initiate at least two of five 
actions that will help to reduce their emissions of greenhouse 
gases. 
The five actions are:

  Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be 
  built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED 
  Silver standard or equivalent.
 
  Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy 
  requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all 
  areas for which such ratings exist.
 
  Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas 
  emissions generated by air travel paid for by our 
  institution.
 
  Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation 
  for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our 
  institution.
 
  Within one year of signing this document, begin purchasing 
  or producing at least 15 percent of our institution’s 
  electricity consumption from renewable sources.
 
  Establish a policy or a committee that supports climate and 
  sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where our 
  institution’s endowment is invested.

The college and university presidents and chancellors who are 
joining the Commitment believe that exerting leadership in 
addressing climate change will stabilize and reduce their 
long-term energy costs, attract excellent students and 
faculty, attract new sources of funding, and increase the 
support of alumni and local communities.

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