An Introduction to Campus Environmental Sustainability Indicators

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An Introduction to Campus Environmental
Sustainability Indicators
Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium
Indicators Working Group

• Gioia Thompson, University of Vermont (Chair)
• Connie Leach Bisson, Middlebury College
• Mary Jensen, Keene State College
• Ramsay Huntley, Tufts University
• Melissa Garcia Lamarca, Concordia University
• Keisha Payson, Bowdoin College
• Julie Newman, Yale University
• Intern Heather Leibowitz, UVM 05

Created for Campus Consortium for Environmental
Excellence, September 2005
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Environmental Indicators in the Context of
Sustainability

• Sustainability is  "..development that meets
  the needs of the present without compromising the
  ability of future generations to meet their own
  needs"
• World Commission on the Environment and
  Development, 1987
• Question How will our communities and
  economic systems survive into the future?

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Sustainability in Higher Education/Campus Greening

• Ensure that critical activities are ecologically
  sound, socially just, and economically viable
• Emphasize these concepts in curriculum, research,
  outreach
• Prepare students to contribute as working
  citizens
• Support surrounding community
• Create institution that functions as sustainable
  community

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Greening Campus Operations

• Land use
• Transportation, parking, fleet
• Landscaping
• Water use
• Food
• Purchasing
• Hazardous waste management
• Solid waste management
• Energy use and sources

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Sample Assessment Resources

• Campus Consortium for Environmental Excellence
  C/U Self Tracking Tool
• Sierra Youth Coalitions Campus Sustainability
  Assessment Framework
• Good Companys Sustainable Pathways Toolkit
• Campus Sustainability Assessment Project
• Clean Air-Cool Planet greenhouse gas inventory

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Types of Reports

• Comprehensive sustainability assessments
• Environmental reports
• Other reports
• Individual building performance report
• Ecological footprint analysis
• Greenhouse gas inventories

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Sample Comprehensive Reports

• University of Florida qualitative, covers
  research, education, operations, outreach,
  personnel, policies and practices
• Michigan State University 16 social, economic,
  environmental indicators 76 graphs and tables
• Concordia University (Montreal) multi-stakeholder
  process, 171 indicators on social, economic,
  environmental impact, 100 students involved

Social/community Environmental Economic
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Sample Environmental Reports

• Bowdoin College
• Environmental Impact Audit, December 2000
• Middlebury College
• Climate Neutral Working Group report
• Tufts University
• Tufts Climate Initiative website, activities
• University of Vermont
• Tracking UVM Environmental Report Card 1990-2000
• Yale University
• Yale University Environment Report 1997-1998
  through 2003-2004

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Example Tracking UVM Environmental Report Card
1990-2000

• Land, water, energy, air, waste indicators
  1990-2000
• Best management practices, community comments,
  next steps
• Audience students, staff, faculty, trustees,
  legislature, community
• Excerpted, adapted for educational projects
• Key findings energy use, solid waste up despite
  best practices

University of Vermont Environmental
Council December 2002
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Using Your Indicators

• Track management practices in operations
• Strategic planning
• Master planning
• Compliance assessment
• Comparison with other institutions
• Campus, community stakeholder education and
  engagement

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Sample Educational Uses

• Ex To promote awareness in residence halls
• Electricity use reduction competitionOberlin
  College
• of trash that could have been recycled (EcoRep
  waste sort results) Vermont
• Total recycled / resident student, and Total
  trash / resident studentRecyclemania

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Considerations Purpose

• Academics engage intellectual resources of
  faculty and students in sustainability
• Campus education awareness, understanding,
  motivation, behavior change
• Decision-making support clear decisions, set
  priorities, engage stakeholders
• Visibility create pressure on institution from
  internal and external sources

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Considerations Constraints

• Money financial, in-kind, investments in data
  systems
• Time data and labor availability, reporting
  schedules
• Relevance quality of data, culture, pressing
  issues, collaborations

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Considerations Potential Pitfalls

• Coordinator
• Burnout
• Time sink
• Data dont exist in form they should
• Danger of poor interactions with stakeholders
• Institution
• Reluctance to look bad
• Perceived confidentiality issues
• Difficulty in comparing school to school
• Danger of drawing the wrong conclusions

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Recommendation Start with key environmental
indicators

• Solid waste recycling, composting
• Tangible, measurable, understandable
• Energyheating, electricity, transportation, and
  associated emissions
• Collectively largest financial and environmental
  impact
• Waterwater use and wastewater treatment
• Significance depends on region

Available from C2E2.org
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Measuring Now, and Maybe Later

• Sample energy and waste measures
• Probably measuring now
• kWh, Btus, square feet
• Tons waste to landfill, recycling (?)
• Number of students, faculty, staff
• Financial data
• Might want to measure
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Energy sources
• How much of trash could have been recycled
• Construction and demolition waste

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Whats Next

• Creative educational uses of indicators
• Focus on key indicators (depth) and/or
• Expansion to larger numbers of indicators
• Perhaps formal reporting systems as part of
  Environmental Management Systems, ISO 14001
• Suites of Indicators
• Integrate into campus reporting systems

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Suites of Energy Indicators

• Example
• Energy use from heating, electricity,
  transportation combined into one unit (terajoules
  or BTUs) shows relative environmental
  impactsoften heating and electricity about the
  same, transportation much lower
• Cost of energy use from heating, electricity,
  transportation shows relative costs, return on
  investmentelectricity usually highest
• Greenhouse gas emissions from energy uses show
  climate change impacts

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Sample Energy Indicators Suite
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Integrating Indicators into Planning, Reporting,
Surveying Systems

• Examples
• Campus Master Plan impervious surfaces
• Transportation Plan single occupancy vehicle
  rate, commuter choice options
• Utilities Plan emissions, greenhouse gases
• Contracts recycled content in copier paper,
  local food served by dining services
• Reports Env Health Safety IAQ complaints
• Surveys awareness, attitudes (Student
  Government, Statistics classes)

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RESOURCES

• Organizations
• Reports
• Tools
• Articles
• Miscellaneous slides

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1. ORGANIZATIONS

• Campus Consortium for Environmental Excellence
• www.c2e2.org
• Education for Sustainability-West
• www.esfwest.org
• University Leaders for a Sustainable Future
• www.ulsf.org
• National Wildlife Federation
• www.nwf.org
• Clean Air-Cool Planet
• www.cleanair-coolplanet.org

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Campus Consortium for Environmental Excellence
(C2E2)

• College University Sector Program www.c2e2.org
• See also
• Environmental Management Systems (EMS) 32
  institutions involved
• EPA Best Management Practices (BMP)

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2. REPORTS

• Comprehensive
• University of Florida
• Michigan State
• Concordia University (Montreal)
• Environmental
• Bowdoin College
• Tufts University
• Yale University

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University of Florida

• University of Florida Sustainability Task Force
  Final Report (2002)
• Qualitatively focused report looking at a wide
  range of indicators for a sustainable
  institution
• Research
• Education
• Campus Operations (including Land Management
  Biodiversity, Buildings, Energy and Resource Use,
  Transportation, Waste Management, etc.)
• Community Outreach and Integration
• Campus Community Personnel
• Organizational Policies and Practices

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Michigan State University

• Campus Sustainability Report (2003)
• Extensive report including 76 representational
  graphs and tables
• Social, Economic, and Environmental Indicators
  (16 total)
• Findings provide data on a wide range of campus
  issues from intramural sports to research
  funding to air emissions

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Concordia University
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171 Indicators organized in 10 areas
Concordia University
Eco-subsystem
People Subsystem
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Sample Health Wellbeing Indicators
Concordia University
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Tufts Climate Initiative (TCI)

• Tufts University has committed to reducing GHG
  emissions by 7 below 1990 levels by 2012 this
  translates to a real reduction of about 30.
• Carbon is the key metric for measuring the impact
  of construction, transportation, energy
  efficiency, personal action, and clean
  electricity.
• TCIs work is funded by grants. University
  dollars fund efficiency and other investments.
• TCIs focus is on efficiency, new construction,
  electricity procurement, and personal action.

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Carbon emissions updated annually
(www.tufts.edu/tci )
A focus on improving electrical efficiency has
leveled electricity and decreased emissions on
the main campus.
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University of Vermont Report Card Results
1990-2000

• Less sustainable
• Commuting miles
• CO2 emissions
• Energy use
• Trash generation

Little change or inadequate data Land use
Air pollution from heating Recycling
Hazardous waste
More sustainable Energy sources Radioactive
waste Water use Storm water management
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Yale Sustainability Metrics
Spectrum Category Indicators Units
For more details http//www.yale.edu/sustainabili
ty
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3. TOOLS

• College Consortium of Environmental Excellence
  (and EPA)
• Colleges Universities Self Tracking Tool
  http//www.c2e2.org/cgi-admin/navigate.cgi
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Sector Programs College University Sector
  http//www.epa.gov/sectors/colleges/
• Sierra Youth Coalition
• Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework
  http//www.syc-cjs.org/index.php
• Good Company
• Sustainable Pathways Toolkit http//www.goodcompan
  y.com/lib/documents/
• Campus Sustainability Assessment Project CSAP
• Online Database http//csap.envs.wmich.edu/pages/r
  es_csa.html

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C2E2/EPA Colleges Universities Self Tracking
Tool

• Colleges and Universities Self Tracking Tool,
  developed by EPA College and University Sectors
  Performance Measurement Workgroup
  http//www.c2e2.org/tracking_tool/index.html
  online tool to collect and analyze data on campus
  environmental impacts.
• Tracks and benchmarks environmental indicators
  against aggregated data from other schools of
  similar size and type.

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Good Companys Sustainable Pathways Toolkit

• Assessment tool for university and college
  customers 20 core indicators and 10
  supplementary, each with performance benchmark.
  (ex. UNC-Greensboro)
• Compact and focused still with some depth of
  sustainability issues and coverage of human and
  ecosystem dimensions.
• Involves limited consultation of and involvement
  of campus community.

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The Campus Sustainability Assessment Project
(CSAP)

• The Campus Sustainability Assessment Database is
  an extensive, searchable record of CSA projects
  throughout the United States, Canada, and several
  other countries. It contains information on over
  1,100 projects and assessments of all types.
• http//csap.envs.wmich.edu/pages/res_csa.html

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Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework (CSAF)
A sustainable campus community acts upon its
local and global responsibilities to protect and
enhance the health and well being of humans and
ecosystems. It actively engages the knowledge of
the university community to address the
ecological and social challenges that we face now
and in the future. Sierra Youth Coalition
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New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for
Sustainability

• Rating system 1-7
• Solid waste
• Energy
• Water/sewage
• Transportation
• Indoor air quality

• Landscape
• Food service
• New structures/renovations
• Procurement
• Curriculum

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Greenhouse Gas Calculators

• Tufts Climate Initiative used own spreadsheet in
  1999, prior to World Resources Institute (WRI)
  method http//www.tufts.edu/tci
• WRI tool is used by Regional Greenhouse Gas
  Initiative (RGGI), often used for businesses
  http//www.rggr.us/registriesbackground.html
• Ralph Torrie software through ICLEI often used
  for cities http//www.cacpsoftware.org/
• Clean AirCool Planet calculator for higher
  education http//www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/tool
  kit/content/view/43/124/
• DOE software http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/frn
  tvrgg.html

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4. Articles

• Cole, Lindsay (2003). Assessing Sustainability
  of Canadian University Campuses Development of
  a Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework.
  Victoria, Canada Royal Roads University.
• Graedel, T.E. (2002) Quantitative sustainability
  in a college or university setting in
  International Journal of Sustainability in
  Higher Education Vol.3 No.4, pp.346-358
• Shriberg, Michael (2002). Institutional
  assessment tools for sustainability in higher
  education strengths, weaknesses and
  implications for practice and theory in Higher
  Education Policy 15, p 153-167.

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5. Miscellaneous

• Ecological Footprint
• Sustainable Development
• Sustainable Community Indicators
• Benchmarks
• NEG/ECP climate pledge
• Global Reporting

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Our Ecological Footprint (EF)

• www.rprogress.org

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New England Governors and Eastern Canadian
Premiers Pledge

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by
  the year 2010
• 10 below 1990 levels by the year 2020, and
• Ultimately stabilize the climate by making
  reductions of 75-85

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Sustainable Development

• To be sustained
• Nature earth, biodiversity, ecosystems
• Life support ecosystem services, resources,
  environment
• Community cultures, groups, places

• To be developed
• People child survival, life expectancy,
  education, equity, equal opportunity
• Economy wealth, productive sectors, consumption
• Society institutions, social capital, states,
  regions
• T.E.Graedel, 2002

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Sustainability Challenges Ahead

• Run civilization on sunshine
• Stabilize then reduce global population
• Protect remaining biological diversity
• Prevent pollution
• Manage agriculture and forests sustainably
• Repair ecosystems damaged in the industrial era
• Improve basic equity and fairness
• David Orr, forward to Ecodemia

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Sustainable Community Indicators

• Address carrying capacity
• Address causes and effects
• Are relevant, understandable, and usable
• Take 25-50 year view

• Measure progress
• Explain sustainability
• Educate community
• Show linkages
• Motivate and focus action

www.sustainablemeasures.com
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Sample Sustainability Indicators
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Global Business Reporting

• Global Reporting Initiative (gri.org)
• External reporting framework to communicate
• actions taken to improve economic, environmental,
  and social performance
• the outcomes of such actions and
• future strategies for improvement.

• Global Environmental Management Initiative
  (gemi.org)
• Sustainable Development Planner
• Climate Change Planner
• Water Planner

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Ready to set benchmarks?

• Good indicator
• Meaningful measure of significant impact
• Involves relatively little effort and expense for
  information gathering
• Good benchmark
• Sets a high bar that represents significant
  progress within an indicator
• Reasonable expectation of performance
• --Good Company