Everett McGinley and his wife Susan bought a tract of land for their home in Montgomery, a small town on the Vermont-Quebec border, in 2006. “There are lots of small landholders in Vermont like us, who are deeply committed to the health and preservation of their forestland,” he said.
But the McGinleys and like-minded Vermont landholders face significant financial challenges including the cost of forest management. Thanks to help from the Vermont Land Trust, the McGinleys and several neighbors packaged their joint holdings into forest carbon credits, which ̽̽ will purchase to offset the costs of its own carbon emissions.
“This is a win-win proposition — we get financial support for managing our forest in a way that enhances carbon sequestration, climate resiliency and biodiversity,” said McGinley.
Those offsets are one piece of ̽̽’s Comprehensive Sustainability (CSP) plan announced today, which lays out strategies for increasing energy efficiency and reducing emissions on its way to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality by 2030.
“̽̽ is energized in its drive to create a better world through responsible stewardship of all our resources,” ̽̽ President Suresh Garimella said. “Our Comprehensive Sustainability Plan being unveiled today amplifies the excellent work already underway across campus and sets a number of important new goals – carbon neutrality by 2030 being chief among them – coupled with strategies for achieving them. We’re excited to have this path in front of us.”
The CSP prioritizes decarbonization and features objectives in the areas of operations, governance and planning, and research and learning. The university will develop a program for “greening” campus labs, and reduce waste generated per campus user 10% by 2035.
Over the next six years, ̽̽ will develop a campus energy plan to help prioritize renewable energy investments, increase the percentage of electric vehicles in the fleet, make buildings more efficient, and drill geothermal test wells on campus.
Additional highlights of the plan include:
- Reducing GHG emissions associated with the ̽̽ automotive fleet by reducing fleet size by 10% by 2030 and increasing electric vehicles to 100% of light-duty fleet vehicles by 2040;
- Increasing composting and recycling by a combined 10% or more by 2035 from 2019 baseline;
- Increasing spending on Vermont-grown food to 25% by 2030 from 2020 baseline and prioritize food purchasing from diverse suppliers;
- Creating partnerships with other training and educational institutions to support the development and training of the green workforce in Vermont;
- Investing $30M from cash investments in socially responsible funds;
- Strengthening and support transdisciplinary sustainability research across the University; and
- Educating students to contribute to sustainable communities and supporting ̽̽’s Academic Success Goals through sustainability research and teaching.
̽̽ is partnering with Vermont Gas Systems to investigate the feasibility of implementing geothermal energy technology in specific locations on campus, one way to address emissions while maintaining adequate systems for the New England climate.
“VGS is excited to support ̽̽'s efforts to reduce carbon emissions," said Vermont Gas Systems (VGS) President and CEO Neale Lunderville. "Renewable fuels and geothermal energy systems hold promise to provide zero carbon energy for existing and new buildings on campus. VGS will work closely with the team at ̽̽ to identify and support the best heating and cooling solutions."
̽̽’s electricity has been 100% renewable since 2015. The university is planning new initiatives with the support of Burlington Electric Department.
“Burlington Electric values and appreciates ̽̽’s commitment to sustainability, and efforts to reduce fossil fuel use that line up well with our community’s goal of becoming a Net Zero Energy city by 2030,” said Darren Springer, General Manager of Burlington Electric Department. “Burlington Electric and ̽̽ have a long-standing partnership on energy efficiency, and more recently have collaborated on electric vehicle charging infrastructure, city carbon reduction policies, and solar deployment. Going forward, we hope to partner on many exciting projects.”
The CSP commits the university to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 60% below 2007 levels by next year. To offset Scope III emissions (indirect emissions like travel) ̽̽ will purchase the local forest carbon offsets from the Vermont Land Trust. After reducing existing emissions levels, ̽̽ plans to invest in local offsets in 2030 to address its remaining emissions.
“Buying local carbon credits is meaningful to us – it’s a critical strategy in a suite of solutions that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” said ̽̽ Sustainability Director Elizabeth Palchak, who led a CSP working group made up of faculty, staff and students which crafted the plan over the past year.
“I am excited to see the continued commitment ̽̽ has to sustainability, and the bold short-term and long-term milestones,” said Eileen Ye ’24, undergraduate representative to ̽̽’s Socially Responsible Investing Advisory Council. Ye pointed to the goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 60 percent below 2007 levels by 2024 and the rollout of pilot geothermal energy feasibility projects as being of particular interest to her.