Leaders of more than 300 U.S. colleges and universities pledged to measure greenhouse gas emissions from all institution-funded air travel and consider carbon-offset policies as part of "a broad, continuous, higher education effort on climate change." Designed to help pursue full carbon neutrality, the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment aims to include more than 1,000 institutions by 2009.
A group of 12 university presidents hatched the formal effort last October at Arizona State University, during an Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference. This month, organizers publicly launched ACUPCC at a summit meeting in Washington. Through 2009, the group will work to attract additional signatories and establish "a broad, continuous, higher education effort on climate change." The framework is modeled on the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which has been signed by more than 400 mayors.
By signing the document, collegiate leaders committed their institutions to completing within one year and updating annually a "comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions (including emissions from electricity, heating, commuting and air travel)." ACUPCC organizers suggest participants use a "campus" version of a carbon calculator furnished by Clean Air-Cool Planet, which helps users tabulate emissions from both faculty/staff travel and student programs.
"The accountability comes in through public reporting," said George Dyer, a senior fellow at Second Nature, a non-profit group that supports ACUPCC, when asked how member institutions would be held to their commitment. "Through that mechanism, signatories can be seen as whether they are in good standing. If they are not, it will be publicized and it will be up to their stakeholders to get them back on track."
The Clean Air-Cool Planet Web site cautions academic institutions that while greenhouse gas emissions from air travel are "a significant source" for all colleges and universities, they "may not be an area of emissions easily influenced by greenhouse gas reduction efforts. While this part of the inventory is probably going to be most useful when your institution adopts a policy of keeping air travel records, you are most likely to get a good estimate of air travel by conducting a survey from a representative body of population from your institution or contacting your school's primary travel agents. You can also track down a lot of information by asking to see receipts from the respective accountants."
Second Nature's Dyer also said that ACUPCC is developing other resources for member institutions, including information sharing and best practices from those schools that have already addressed this issue. "Some schools think it will be hard to track all [business travel-related emissions]," he said. "Others expect the process to be easier because they already do the tracking through the expense process.
At Arizona State University, where president Michael Crow serves as a founding member of ACUPCC's leadership circle, the Tempe campus is in the process of completing an initial greenhouse gas inventory. Thus far, it found 270,000 metric tons of carbon emitted each year, including from university travel. "We had to make some estimates based on the number of dollars spent ($7 million last year) and how many trips were in-state versus out-of-state" to both domestic and international destinations, assistant director of sustainability initiatives Bonny Bentzin told Management.travel. "Next year, the travel office--and all offices--will have very specific metrics for their data."
For example, the travel office will be required to list origins and destinations of each trip in order to calculate total mileage flown. "It is unrealistic to ask them to put in the type of aircraft," Bentzin acknowledged. "We have to make this user-friendly or it is not going to happen." She added that ASU is developing its own carbon calculator to meet its specific needs.
While a complete ACUPCC climate-neutrality plan is constructed, committed institutions also must initiate at least two "tangible actions" from a list of six. One option is to "establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by our institution."
Like many of their counterparts in the corporate sector, collegiate leaders recognize that carbon offset programs should be "a last resort." Acknowledging that offsetting is an emerging field with no absolute consensus on best practices or methods of measurement, ACUPCC hopes to "spark meaningful debate around carbon offsetting and make intellectual and practical improvements in the space."
For now, ACUPCC is providing resources and guidelines, Dyer explained. For example, schools should ask, "Are these programs transparent? Are they real? Are they permanent? Do they have positive or negative social effects?" he explained.
At ASU, a new travel policy on offsetting is planned for Jan. 1. "Carbon offsets for university travel will go to projects on campus," Bentzin explained. "We may have to purchase third-party offsets someday, but right now there is so much to be done on campus. Then we would look to do work in the community and ultimately look at the more traditional route."
Bentzin added that ASU still is considering which offset model to use--basing dollar amounts directly on mileage flown, on general trip distance (up to 1,500 miles or over 1,500, for example) or through some other mechanism. She also noted that research-related travel sponsored by federally funded agencies must be excluded from such models, as the federal government would consider offsets as a tax, which cannot be applied to such funding.
Travel departments at several other universities were unable to detail for Management.traveltheir carbon-neutral travel plans. Many are part of institutions that are just now studying their specific approach to climate change and only recently signed on to ACUPCC.
Once a college or university establishes a plan for lowering the environmental impact of official travel, achieving goals likely will be challenging for some, given the often decentralized structure of collegiate travel managementand a general inability to mandate policies and procedures. [Even in the corporate sector, where travel management professionals can exert greater control over their companies' spending, emissions reduction policies are only now creeping into travel programs.] And while air travel has been identified as a significant contributor to GHG emissions, many higher education institutions have focused their sustainability efforts on such campus projects as waste and water management, renewable energy, low-impact campus transportation and other pursuits that can generate direct, local benefits.
ACUPCC signatories also must commit to publicizing their greenhouse gas inventories, plans and progress reports, and integrate sustainability into the curriculum. "No other institution in society has the influence, the critical mass and the diversity of skills needed to successfully reverse global warming," according to ACUPCC materials, which suggested higher education's tax-free status and ability to collect public and private funds presents "a moral and social responsibility" to fight climate change. "Higher education is also a $317 billion economic engine that employs millions of people and spends billions of dollars on fuel, energy, products, services and infrastructure," the documents indicated.
Some of the more recent signatories include Bowdoin College, Furman College, New Mexico State University, Northern Arizona University, University of Denver, University of Maryland and University of Vermont. Higher education institutions can sign on as charter signatories by June 30, and volunteer for the Leadership Circle by Dec. 2007.
In addition to Second Nature and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, ACUPCC is supported by consumer marketing and research group ecoAmerica.
Related resources:
The American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment
Clean Air Cool Planet Campus Carbon Calculator