American University and College President's Climate Commitment
From Common Energy UVic
The American University and College President's Climate Commitment (PCC) is a framework for higher education institutions working to achieve climate neutrality. This page has been structured and written as a test of the Knowledge Base Style Guide.
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[edit] Background and Context
The PCC has emerged from the collaboration of a variety of campus sustainability organizations. These include:
- The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Second Nature
- EcoAmerica
- Energy Action
The initiative is modeled on the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and is intended to be a very high visibility effort to show support for climate change action from government.
Perhaps the greatest difference between the context in which PCC has developed and the context in BC is that in BC the government has a large scale climate change initiative and higher education institutions are primarily public entities that are under government control.
[edit] Description
The PCC has been signed by well over 300 higher education institutions so far. The signatories have broad geographic coverage and represent a wide range of higher education institutions. Their initial resource was A Call for Climate Leadership, it contains a host of impressive initiatives at universities and colleges across the USA.
[edit] The Commitment
Echoing our own sentiments, the Call observes that:
"Leading society to reverse human-induced global warming is a task that fits squarely into the educational, research, and public service missions of higher education. There is no other institution in society that has the influence, the critical mass and the diversity of skills needed to successfully make this transformation."
It outlines a road map for carbon neutrality that begins with top-level commitment, proceeds to strategies for buy-in from the university community, which is followed by the creation and implementation of a plan, and the concurrent reporting of progress to the PCC governing body.
By signing the commitment American university and college presidents are agreeing to:
1. Initiate the development of a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible.
- Within two months of signing this document, create institutional structures to guide the development and implementation of the plan.
- Within one year of signing this document, complete a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions (including emissions from electricity, heating, commuting, and air travel) and update the inventory every other year thereafter.
- Within two years of signing this document, develop an institutional action plan for becoming climate-neutral, which will include:
- A target date for achieving climate neutrality as soon as possible.
- Interim targets for goals and actions that will lead to climate neutrality.
- Actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other educational experience for all students.
- Actions to expand research or other efforts necessary to achieve climate neutrality.
- Mechanisms for tracking progress on goals and actions.
2. Initiate two or more of the following tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gases while the more comprehensive plan is being developed.
- 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% 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.
3. Make the action plan, inventory, and periodic progress reports publicly available by providing them to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for posting and dissemination.
4. In recognition of the need to build support for this effort among college and university administrations across America, we will encourage other presidents to join this effort and become signatories to this commitment.
[edit] The Plan
The main document for understanding the framework is the recently released draft implementation guide that is now the most comprehensive publicly available document. Notably, it:
- Expands the importance of education and research compared to the emphasis this received in previous documents
- Indicates that GHG inventories should include scope 2, but not scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 emissions include indirect emissions from things like purchasing.
In addition, the following resources have been added to the website for different sectors of the plans:
[edit] Broader Implications and Discussion
This note is intended to foster discussion on the possibility of integrating higher education institutions into comprehensive climate change strategies through the Canadian version of the PCC. The key element of this strategy is shifting the focus of climate change action to a strategic role for higher education that uses its academic and operational capacities in broader climate change strategies.
[edit] Introduction
Common Energy has spent the last year researching the role of higher education in climate change strategies through a collaborative planning process that has engaged students, staff, faculty, and regional partners. We have found that most campus sustainability and climate change strategies focus on reducing the impact of the institution’s operations and argue that this can be complemented by an approach that embraces the following:
- Higher education has unique combinations of capacities that give it the potential to be a leading climate change problem solving institution.
- Comprehensive action on climate change is an opportunity to increase student engagement, research funding, and improve the campus environment through innovation in organizational problem solving.
- We can accomplish this by integrating the academic and operational capacities of higher education institutions with comprehensive strategies to catalyze and support regional and provincial climate change initiatives.
- The most successful climate change strategies will be rooted in collaborative planning processes and based on a networked approach to climate change research and action.
The next section of this note will describe the particular functions of higher education that can be incorporated into the Canadian version of the PCC, and the organizational form required to create that function.
[edit] Function
To complement the American PCC’s focus on emissions reductions and offsetting for campus operations we can incorporate the following into our version:
- Develop the research and education section of the PCC framework to include the beyond climate-neutral goal with qualitative and quantitative indicators for the institution’s actions to assess local and provincial climate change problems, and mobilizing the innovative research and education necessary to solve them.
- Establish criteria to guide climate neutral strategies so that they help their cities and regions achieve their climate change goals. Expand the scope of the GHG inventory so that purchasing and investment capacities can be used strategically to green businesses and reduce indirect GHG impacts for institution and other consumers.
- Integrate the province’s higher education institutions with provincial climate change initiatives for mutual support. For example, higher education institutions in BC could support crown corporations as they plan to go carbon neutral, while the provincial government can fund climate trusts to finance emissions reductions projects on campus.
- Build capacity in organized students, staff, faculty, and regional partners to assist in the achievement of these objectives and undertake projects that will spread public awareness and create cultural change.
[edit] Form
The goal of achieving climate-neutrality is primarily a challenge for administrations, which is complemented by broader participation from the campus community. Going beyond climate-neutral requires the sustained engagement of a committed network of students, staff, faculty, and regional partners working with the administration integrate their academic and operational strategies with local and provincial needs. For that reason, an organization that specializes in engaging those students, staff, faculty and regional partners compliments the administration to achieve the full potential for climate change solutions from the university. An NGO dedicated to moving the higher education institution beyond climate-neutral is the most effective vehicle for improving communication between the campus, local, and provincial communities and when complimented by similar NGOs at other higher education institutions they will accelerate problem solving across the entire network.
To incorporate this into the PCC:
- Partner with a dedicated NGO and include it in the institutional structure to create and implement the plan.
- Work with that NGO to create the plan through collaborative processes that engage the broader network of students, staff, faculty, and regional partners interested in practical solutions to climate change.
[edit] Further Discussion and Other Considerations
What else should be incorporated into the new PCC framework?
[edit] External Resources
Many of the most relevant have already been included above.
[edit] References
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