UNH Commits to Climate Neutrality
By Brett Pasinella, Office of Sustainability
February 21, 2007
Interim President J. Bonnie Newman signed the American College & University
Presidents Climate Commitment today, adding UNH to the leadership circle
of more than 60 colleges and universities committed to climate neutrality,
significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and education and research
on climate change. UNH is the first New England land-grant university to
sign the commitment.
“Signing the Presidents Climate Commitment naturally stems from
our broader commitment to sustainability,” said Newman. “It
is part of our mission as an institution of higher education not only to
engage in world-class research on such pressing issues as climate change – and
to educate our students about these issues so they are prepared to engage
in solutions – but also to lead by example.”
“Sustainability is part and parcel of UNH’s identity,” added
John Aber, vice president of research and chair of the UNH Energy Task
Force. “We are thrilled to be a part of a small group of colleges
and universities that are leading the way in addressing climate change
through what we teach, how we operate, what we research, and how we engage
with the community.”
Presidents signing the American College & University Presidents Climate
Commitment are pledging to eliminate their campuses’ greenhouse gas
emissions over time and ultimately to achieving climate neutrality. This
involves creating an institutional structure to guide the development and
implementation of climate neutrality, completing a greenhouse gas emissions
inventory, setting a target date and interim milestones for becoming climate
neutral, taking immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – such
as providing access to public transportation or adopting an energy-efficient
appliance purchasing policy – and integrating sustainability into
the curriculum.
“Signing the Presidents Climate Commitment is part of UNH’s
commitment to being a climate protection campus that engages the entire
university community – and ultimately all of New England - in climate
change education and emissions reductions,” said Tom Kelly, director
of the UNH Office of Sustainability. “Our continued emissions reductions
are complemented by our integrative research, interdisciplinary curricula
at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and broad-based education about
the relationships among energy choices, climate, and economic and social
well-being.”
UNH, a leader in sustainability, has many initiatives underway that will
help the university achieve climate neutrality. The university has developed
a novel greenhouse gas emissions inventory tool that has been adopted by
more than 200 colleges and universities in the United States; it engages
faculty, staff and students in a universitywide energy task force chaired
by a vice president; in 2006 it brought online a combined heat and power
(CHP) facility, or cogeneration plant; and UNH is in the preliminary stages
of a groundbreaking project that will bring landfill methane gas to this
facility. When emissions reductions are combined with its innovations in
climate education, teaching, and research, UNH’s comprehensive Climate
Education Initiative places the university at the vanguard of higher education
on the issue.
Under the guidance and direction of the leadership circle, the Presidents
Climate Commitment is being supported and implemented by the Association
for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), of which
UNH is a member, Second Nature, and ecoAmerica. To date more than 60 universities
and colleges have signed the Commitment.
“UNH is the first public land-grant university in New England to
sign the commitment, demonstrating once again the university’s long-standing
leadership in sustainability,” said Anthony Cortese, president of
Second Nature, a research institute dedicated to education and sustainability,
and co-creator of the Presidents Climate Commitment. “We are thrilled
to have UNH on board.”
More information on UNH’s sustainability efforts is available at
www.sustainableunh.unh.edu and www.unh.edu/etf. More information on the
Presidents Climate Commitment is available at www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.
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