Measure and Evaluate Progress Toward a Carbon-Neutral Campus

Successful implementation of a climate action plan at your campus involves flexibility and long-term support from your organization's leadership and stakeholders. Above all, it involves measuring and reporting progress toward a specific target.

The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) put together a reporting system for colleges and universities that signed the ACUPCC commitment. Such public reporting can show which institutions are making progress toward their commitments. Likewise, Federal agencies must report energy consumption and offsets, as outlined in federal energy legislation and regulations, to Congress annually.

Setting Interim Targets

Another way to measure progress is to set interim carbon-reduction targets (i.e., attaining a fraction of the target in so many years). The interim targets are helpful to maintain momentum by breaking a difficult, long-term goal into a series of shorter term objectives that are easier to attain.

Building Institutional Support

Two organizations publish a series of recommendations for how to accomplish these steps at colleges and universities in their reports titled, respectively:

• Cool Campus! A Guide for College and University Climate Action Planning: Among its other recommendations, AASHE recommends holding a yearly climate to build support for the climate action plan.

• The Educational Facilities Professional's Practical Guide to Reducing the Campus Carbon Footprint: Report proposing specific criteria for judging how well an educational facility is operated sustainably. The report lists key staffs that need to be part of the climate action plan and the need to focus on the whole campus.