The Sustainable University

1. The Sustainable University PLANNING & IMPLEMENTATION Will O’Brien GSOM - Visiting Faculty WOBrien@clarku.edu September 14, 2009

2. Agenda • Footprints: • Carbon • Water • Environmental • Campus Sustainability – why important? • ACUPCC: Goals, Commitment & Guidance • Climate Action Plan (CAP) • Investment Decisions & Financing • Carbon Offsets • Implementation: • Awareness/Readiness of the Community • Change Management • Tracking Performance & Reporting • EN103 Projects in support of Clark’s CAP • Resources

3. Footprints Carbon Footprint is the total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product. Source: Wikipedia Water Footprint is an indicator of water use that includes both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. Source: Wikipedia Environmental Footprint is a measure of the amount of resources consumed and the amount of pollution; e.g., green house gas and waste created by an entity and by the firms that serve the entity, usually summarized by the equivalent are of land needed to assimilate these impacts. Source: “Measuring Environmental Footprint: A Financial Services Industry Case Study”, 2008, UNC

5. Water Footprint

6. Campus Sustainability – why important? Impact on the environment Education - development of future leaders Research Service to the community

7. American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment • Goals : exercise leadership in their communities and throughout society by modeling ways to eliminate global warming emissions, and by providing the knowledge and the educated graduates to achieve climate neutrality. • Commitment: • Within 1 year, report the results of GHG emissions inventory; • Within 2 years, submit Climate Action Plan; • Within 3 years and at least every other year thereafter ,update GHG emissions inventory; • Within 4 years and at least every other year thereafter, submit narrative reports describing progress in implementing Climate Action Plan. • Guidance: Implementation Guide www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/resources/guide

8. Climate Action Plan (CAP) The climate action plan should be in the form of a brief summary report that is Comprehensible by and accessible to the general public. For consistency, signatories are encouraged to include the following sections in their report: Introduction – describes why the institution is taking this initiative and other background information. Campus Emissions – describes the institution's current emissions trajectory and sets a target date for climate neutrality. This section should include visual representations of the institution's emissions trajectory under business as usual and under the ACUPCC plan, as well as a graph illustrating the contribution to the institution's total emissions from each emission source. Mitigation Strategies – shows how the institution intends to achieve climate neutrality. This section should include sub-sections describing how the institution will neutralize emissions from each source. Educational, Research, Community Outreach Efforts – describes plans to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and/or other educational experience for all students as well as actions to expand research, community outreach and/or other efforts toward the achievement of climate neutrality; this section should include subsections on education, research (if appropriate), and community outreach. Financing – explains how the institution will finance the mitigation strategies and other efforts described in the rest of the plan. Tracking Progress – describes how the institution will track its progress in achieving the goals set out in the rest of the plan.

9. Clark’s CAP Executive Summary Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Campus Emissions Chapter 3: Mitigation Strategies Chapter 4: Emissions reduction scenarios 2010–2015 Chapter 5: Barriers and Risks Chapter 6: Financing Chapter 7: Culture, Educational, Research, Community Outreach Efforts Chapter 8: Policy Initiatives Chapter 9: Tracking Progress Chapter 10: Conclusions

10. Clark’s CAP Executive Summary Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Campus Emissions Chapter 3: Mitigation Strategies Chapter 4: Emissions reduction scenarios 2010–2015 Chapter 5: Barriers and Risks Chapter 6: Financing Chapter 7: Culture, Educational, Research, Community Outreach Efforts Chapter 8: Policy Initiatives Chapter 9: Tracking Progress Chapter 10: Conclusions • Building Energy Efficiency Measures • Cleaning Service • Energy Supply Options • Food Services • Information Technology • Paper usage • Purchasing • Recycling & Waste Management • Transportation • Water and Waste Water

11. Clark’s Sustainability Task Force David Angel, Provost, Chair Kara Baylog, Graduate Student Justin Brooks, ITS Jim Collins, Treasurer Paul Coute, Business Office Jody Emel, Professor, Geography Kevin Forti, Resident Life and Housing John McKenzie, Graduate Student Will O’Brien, Visiting Ass’t. Professor Joe Sarkis, Professor, Management Dave Schmidt, Campus Sustainability Coordinator Jennie Stephens, Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Policy Chris Traft, Undergraduate Student Ashley Trull, Undergraduate Student Tom Wall, Physical Plant

12. Investment Decisions & Financing • Investment Decision Model: http://www.thomasjmurphy.com/demo/login.php?er=4 • Financing Options: • College/University capital budget • External sources: • Federal & State • Bond - a certificate of debt (usually interest-bearing or discounted) that is issued by an institution • American Recovery & Reinvestment Act • Clinton Climate Initiative • Private Foundations • Others

13. Carbon Offsets Carbon offsets are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) and may represent six primary categories of greenhouse gases. One carbon offset represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases. There are two markets for carbon offsets. In the larger compliance market, companies, governments, or other entities buy carbon offsets in order to comply with caps on the total amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit. Source: Wikipedia

14. Awareness/Readiness of Community • Why important? • How to assess? • Sustainability Surveys: • Faculty: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/vision/feedback/sustainability/ • Students: www.ecohusky.uconn.edu/campusenviroawareness.htm • How to use survey results?

15. Implementation & Change Management

16. Tracking Performance – GHG Emissions Clean Air –Cool Planet: • Over 50% of the pilot group had completed or initiated analysis using Clean Air –Cool Planet’s Campus Carbon Calculator. • Excel based tool designed to document and understand a campus’ greenhouse gas emissions. • Available for no charge on www.cleanair-coolplanet.org • Recommended resource by the President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC)

17. Tracking Performance cont’d. • Water Footprint: www.waterfootprint.org/index.php?page=cal/waterfootprintcalculator_indv_ext • Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS): • Provide a guide for advancing sustainability in all sectors of higher education. • Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions by establishing a common standard of measurement for sustainability in higher education. • Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability. • Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance. • Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community. • Available to AASHE members on www.aashe.org/stars/index.php

18. Reporting Internal: External: http://acupcc.aashe.org/

19. Projects in support of Clark’s Carbon Neutrality • Clark University’s Environmental Sustainability Task Force will be finalizing this plan throughout the fall 2009 semester. So there is a timely opportunity for EN103 student teams to contribute directly to this plan because there are several specific areas of planning that have not yet been well-developed including: • energy supply options, • improving recycling, • reducing paper-usage, • developing low-impact purchasing/procurement guidelines, • expanding local food options, • transportation, • waste disposal • improving water and waste-water management • Several different teams of students could contribute to the climate action plan by focusing on one or two of these different aspects of the plan. • GSOM students’ role on the team will be the financial aspects of the project as well as implementation planning and tracking/reporting progress.

20. Resources American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) Aspen Institute Association of the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) World Energy Solutions, Inc.