Fifteen Inactive Institutions Removed from American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2010
Contact: Toni Nelson, 617-722-0036 ext. 210, tnelson@secondnature.org

Since the initiation of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in December 2006, the network has grown from an initial group of 12 to over 650 colleges and universities, representing 5.8 million students – approximately one-third of the total post-secondary student population in the country.

The Climate Commitment is an unprecedented initiative – the first sector-wide, voluntary effort in the United States to pursue climate neutrality through a series of concrete, self-reported steps.  All but a few of the signatory schools in the first three years have systematically complied with the provisions of the Commitment.  To date, 509 signatories have submitted a total of 871 greenhouse gas inventories and 287 climate action plans have been posted on a publicly accessible on-line clearinghouse  (www.acupcc.org/reportingsystem).    

In March 2010, the ACUPCC Steering Committee – the 22-member governing body, made up of presidents and chancellors representing various types of institutions – congratulated the member institutions on their remarkable progress.  The Steering Committee also established procedures to remove those signatories that have not complied with the requirements of the Climate Commitment.

“When we developed the idea of a voluntary 'climate commitment' for higher education,” said David Shi, President of Furman University and Co-Chair of the ACUPCC Steering Committee, “we unanimously agreed that it must embody the principles of fairness, transparency, flexibility, and integrity.  And that includes ensuring compliance with the Commitment’s protocols.” 

All of the 15 institutions removed from the network had missed the first three initial reporting requirements: (1) an Implementation Profile due within two months of their start date; (2) a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory due within one year of their start date; and (3) a Climate Action Plan due within two years of their start-date.   As a consequence, they have been removed from the network, the ACUPCC website, and the online Reporting System.

“The ACUPCC is centered on building a critical mass of institutions to work together in a variety of ways to provide leadership-by-example and equip society with the knowledge, skills, values, and innovative solutions needed to avoid the unmanageable effects of climate disruption,” said Anthony Cortese, President of Second Nature, the lead supporting organization of the ACUPCC.   “It is important for this initiative to continue to grow, and if institutions are neither participating, nor reporting on their progress, it does a disservice to the entire network to keep them on the list.”

Second Nature has a primary focus on facilitating participation and compliance with the Climate Commitment.  “The process of submitting reports for the ACUPCC is straight-forward and our ACUPCC staff at Second Nature is standing by to assist campus representatives in logging on to the system and inputting the data,” said Toni Nelson, ACUPCC Program Director at Second Nature. “Users can also change and update reports at any time via the online Reporting System, so signatory institutions can submit what they have at the time of a deadline and provide more details or alternative information in future progress reports.”

The current number of ACUPCC institutions is now 673.  Many among them have reported that the activities associated with the Climate Commitment have galvanized their campuses and provided a unique opportunity for faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members to work together in creative ways for a common purpose.  Each week more colleges and universities decide to join the Commitment, and the newest members are benefiting greatly from the experiences and expertise of the vanguard signatories.  “The Climate Commitment,” added President Shi, “is one of the few activities that actually foster collaboration among all types of institutions: community colleges, private liberal arts colleges, public colleges, and research universities (both public and private).”  The current signatories range from the College of the Atlantic with 283 students, to Arizona State University and the University of Minnesota, with over 50,000 students, and the Maricopa Community College District with over 250,000 students.