ACUPCC Guidance Documents

In coordination with national experts, Second Nature's program team has developed the publications and resources to help signatories of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment implement the commitment on their campuses. These resources are free for signatories of the ACUPCC and available to others for a nominal fee.


The ACUPCC Implementation Guide

The Implementation Guide is the “handbook” of the ACUPCC, providing more detail on the specific obligations in the commitment, explaining technical issues related to implementation, and outlining key policies. (Updated December 2012)
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Leading Profound Change: A Resource for Presidents & Chancellors

Provides an overview of research on select approaches to leading transformational change and examples of successful strategies from ACUPCC campuses to help with the big-picture thinking needed to sustain enthusiasm and implement climate action plans over the long-term.

The members of the ACUPCC Steering Committee developed Leading Profound Change to support all ACUPCC presidents and chancellors in taking an active leadership role in the ongoing process of developing and implementing the climate action plan. (July 2009)
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Education for Climate Neutrality and Sustainability

Identifies some of the best practices across higher education and provides resources to assist signatories in creating their own strategies to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the educational experiences for all students. Signatories to the ACUPCC have committed to take “actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other educational experiences for all students.” Education for Climate Neutrality and Sustainability is intended to give high-level guidance to college and university decision-makers and key staff to clarify the intent of this element of the commitment, and to provide some resources for signatories to create strategies for fulfilling this commitment. (May 2009)
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ACUPCC Voluntary Carbon Offset Protocol

The ACUPCC Voluntary Carbon Offset Protocol (the “Protocol”) project is a coordinated effort of the American academic community to develop a formal voluntary protocol to guide ACUPCC institutions and others through the process of evaluating and investing in the voluntary carbon offset market. This project is being developed by College of the Atlantic through its participation in the ACUPCC with coordination and support services provided by Second Nature. It is bringing together interested parties from the over 500 ACUPCC institutions, as well as experts in finance, policy, energy, land-use, climate science, and other relevant arenas. (November 2008)
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Investing in Carbon Offsets: Guidelines for ACUPCC Institutions (Full Report)

These guidelines aim to expand on and interpret the principles laid out in the ACUPCC Voluntary Carbon Offset Protocol in order to provide more practical and concrete guidance to institutions as they consider investment in offsetting activities. (November 2008)
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