Climate Action Plan Resolution by Board of Trustees
December 8, 2017
Dear Members of the Boston University Community,
I am writing to convey the results of the discussion by our Board of Trustees regarding the proposals presented by the Climate Action Plan Task Force.
You will recall that in my September 2016 letter to the community I announced that the Board of Trustees had endorsed the following proposal:
In order to increase the University’s commitment to and focus on sustainability across teaching, research and operations, the University should develop and incorporate into its Strategic Plan a detailed Climate Action Plan (the “CAP”) that should outline specific near, intermediate and long-term plans and associated goals for markedly increasing:
a. The amount of energy sourced from green alternative power producers (e.g., solar and/or wind either via the University’s power purchasing arrangements or on-campus installations);
b. Energy use efficiency to reduce power demand;
c. Educational opportunities for students to understand climate change, its ramifications, the need to solve the problem in their lifetimes and explore mitigation and adaptation strategies;
d. The University’s cross-disciplinary coordination and support of research related to climate change, mitigation and adaptation;
e. The understanding of all community members (students, faculty and staff) that their individual choices and actions can have a profound impact on reducing the University’s (and their own personal) carbon footprints; and
f. The University’s preparation for the possible effects of future climate change on its physical plant.
The CAP should include implementation time frames, associated costs and funding sources, as appropriate, articulate specific measurable goals with respect to both sourcing greener energy and reducing overall energy demand, and be a living document that is continuously refreshed and updated. Also, given its inclusion in the University’s Strategic Plan, the CAP should be posted publicly on the University’s website and progress, with respect to its contents, should be regularly reported to the Board of Trustees and the community.
Recognizing that the operating budget is a zero-sum proposition and that preservation of intergenerational equity for endowment distributions is important, the entire community will bear the burden of the compensating operating budget pressures (e.g., reduced student services, employee compensation, financial aid and/or tuition increases). However, the savings generated by the University’s efforts to reduce overall energy demand should partially offset this burden.
The Climate Action Plan Task Force was formed in October of 2016 and was led by Tony Janetos, professor of Earth & Environment and director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, and Dennis Carlberg, director of sustainability for Boston University. The draft report was filed with the Board of Trustees and the community this past September. The Task Force has spent the fall in conversations with the community about its findings and has now submitted its final report, which is available here. The recommendations of the Task Force can be divided into four categories:
- Move the University to zero net emissions by 2040 by implementing a two-part plan (referred to as Scope 1 and Scope 2).
- Prepare the Boston University campus for climate change.
- Begin to act on indirect emissions by the Boston University community.
- Emphasize education and research on climate change.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Task Force for their thoughtful work that led to a report that reflects very well on the Boston University community.
At its meeting on December 7, 2017, the Board of Trustees considered–and endorsed–the report and its recommendations, including the BU BOLD goal of carbon neutrality by 2040, by passing the following resolution:
A. To adopt the overarching recommendations of the Climate Action Plan with its four-point focus on:
i. 100% reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions directly controlled by the University (Scope 1) and those resulting from the purchase of electricity and steam (Scope 2) by 2040;
ii. Preparing Boston University for climate change;
iii. Focusing on climate change education and research; and
iv. Developing a plan to reduce indirect (Scope 3) emissions.
B. To endorse the University entering into a financially reasonable Power Purchase Agreement in the near term as a major component of the strategy to reduce Scope 2 emissions to zero by 2040, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee.
C. To ask the president to create a plan for incorporating this commitment into the operating and capital budgets and to present this plan at the April 2018 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
D. To ask that the Board of Trustees be updated every five years on the progress of the Climate Action Plan, with the goal of reassessing this commitment as the understanding of climate change, energy, and mitigation continues to evolve.
In my September 2016 letter to the community, I wrote:
Anthropogenic climate change caused by use of fossil fuel energy sources is possibly the largest and most complex challenge mankind will face during this century. To mitigate the risk of increasing global temperatures and the resulting sea level rise we must drastically reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases from the use of fossil fuels. Current projections are that fossil fuels will continue to be the major source of global energy long into this century; consequently, effective adaptation to the effects of climate change will be equally important.
I believe that the actions of our Board of Trustees, based on the outstanding work of our faculty and staff as documented in the report of the Climate Action Plan Task Force, give Boston University a blueprint for its role in addressing anthropogenic climate change. Most importantly, the plan puts in place concrete, actionable steps and a plan for oversight of our progress that will put Boston University in a leadership position by working toward the goal of zero net emissions by 2040, a decade before the City of Boston’s already ambitious goal of 2050.
Pogo, Walt Kelly’s well-known comic book character, is credited with the famous quote, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” For no challenge in history is this statement more fitting than for climate change. Our collective commitment to the Climate Action Plan will enable Boston University to make meaningful contributions to the effort to solve this global challenge.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Brown
President