Sustainability and Climate Action Plan

2021 OHIO

Sustainability and Climate Action Plan

Approved June 18, 2021

Executive Summary

Background

Planning Process

How to Read the Plan Categories

Categories in the Plan

Implementation and Tracking

Acknowledgements

Condensed  List of Plan Goals

Executive Summary

The 2021 OHIO Sustainability & Climate Action Plan is a road map for the next 5 years of progress toward the carbon neutrality and academic requirements of the Presidents’ Carbon Commitment (formerly the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment) and the OHIO strategic priority of “enhancing the University’s national position as a leading edge laboratory for sustainability.” The plan challenges the University to reach new targets beyond those included in the 2011 Sustainability and 2012 Climate Action Plans. 

To streamline external reporting and facilitate national recognition, the plan aligns with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) credits as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The sixteen sections of the plan are:  Administrative Support, Buildings, Climate, Curriculum, Energy, Engagement, Food, Grounds, Human Resources, Investments, Procurement, Research, Student Life, Transportation, Waste and Water. Goals are included in each section of the plan along with metrics, targets, strategies for reaching those goals as well as general triple bottom line costs and benefits of implementing the strategies. The plan will be partnered with an internal implementation document which will be more fully developed over the next academic year.

The creation of this document was a University and community-wide effort, informed by more than 450 comments from faculty, staff, students, and community members with valuable feedback integrated into the plan.

Guiding principles for the 2021 OHIO Sustainability & Climate Action Plan were:

• The new plan must direct progress toward the achievement of the Presidents’ Carbon Commitments.
• The new plan must merge and align the goals of the former Ohio University Sustainability Plan, Ohio University Climate Action Plan and the AASHE STARS submissions to minimize duplicate reporting requirements.
• The new plan must provide triple bottom line cost benefit analyses for strategies, to aid in implementation decisions.

Strengths of this plan lie in the expansion of sustainability goals to include issues such as diversity and inclusion in the Human Resources and Student Life areas; in the incorporation of flexible experiential and community-engaged learning laboratory strategies in both the plan and in the implementation process; and in the focus on strategies that simultaneously benefit the triple bottom line of sustainability: people, planet and prosperity, now and into the future.

Background

Ohio University is known for its strong commitment to sustainability, evidenced in part by its founding of Recycle Mania with Miami University in January 2001, its listing on the Top 30 College & University US EPA Green Power Partner list, its status as home to the largest in-vessel composting system of any college or university in the nation, and its support of sustainability focused research and curriculum. The university has almost 1 million square feet of Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certified building space. Ohio University has achieved numerous sustainability accolades, including: AASHE STARS Silver status for the past six years; Tree Campus Higher Education recognition for the fifth straight year; Bicycle Friendly University for the past three years; recognition as a LEED Lab institution; a national Gameday Recycling Challenge repeat winner; and a Platinum Ohio EPA Encouraging Environmental Excellence recognition. Ohio University is a past winner of the APPA Sustainability Award and the NACUFS bronze award for Waste Management.

Former President Roderick McDavis signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, now called the Presidents’ Carbon Commitment, on March 15, 2007, committing the University to:

• creating and updating a climate action plan to achieve carbon neutrality
• annual carbon tracking and reporting
• actions to make carbon neutrality part of the curriculum for all students
• actions to expand research in carbon neutrality

The first Ohio University Sustainability Plan was created through an extensive public planning process and was approved by the Board of Trustees in 2011. The first Ohio University Climate Action Plan was then created the following year in 2012 to meet the Carbon Commitment requirements.

More recently, Former President Duane Nellis reaffirmed Ohio University’s Carbon Commitment on his first day in office, June 12, 2017, by signing the “We are Still In” declaration of continued commitment to reaching carbon neutrality.

Planning Process

The 2021 OHIO Sustainability and Climate Action Plan was created after an extensive planning process. Initial development began in 2016 by defining guiding principles and creating a timeline for plan completion. Despite consistent advances, we extended our process several times, first in response to faculty requests, then to needs of administrators and to navigate structural changes, and finally due to circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guiding principles were:

• The new plan must direct progress toward the achievement of the Presidents’ Carbon Commitments.
• The new plan must merge and align the goals of the former Ohio University Sustainability Plan, Ohio University Climate Action Plan and the AASHE STARS submissions to minimize duplicate reporting requirements.
• The new plan must provide triple bottom line cost benefit analyses for strategies, to aid in implementation decisions.

The final planning process timeline included goal and target envisioning, vetting by responsible parties and the public as well as multiple revisions over a two-year period, as is shown in Figure 1.

How to Read the Plan Categories

Categories in the Plan

Sustainability at Ohio University is structured into core components and Sustainability Hubs. There are three Sustainability Hubs, each led by a faculty member and comprising 4 thematic categories. The thematic categories in the core components and Sustainability Hubs are listed below in alphabetic order by core/Hub.  Click the heading to download each section of the plan. 

Core Components

Administrative Support

Curriculum

Engagement

Research

Sustainable Administration Hub Categories

Climate

Human Resources

Investments

Procurement

Sustainable Infrastructure Hub Categories

Buildings

Energy

Waste

Water

Sustainable Living Hub Categories

Food

Grounds

Student Life

Transportation