Climate Commitments, Guidance Tools, and Greenhouse Gas Reductions

Several historic and bold commitments guide our work. In 2007, Smith joined the Climate Leadership Network by signing the Carbon Commitment. In doing so, Smith pledged to create a climate action plan that included “a target date for achieving carbon neutrality as soon as possible.” Smith’s Sustainability and Climate Action Management Plan (SCAMP), released in 2010, outlined various strategies and technologies that should be investigated in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

In fall 2015, President McCartney announced the formation of the Study Group on Climate Change (SGCC), made up of staff, faculty, trustees, alumnae and students, tasked with facilitating a campus-wide examination of how Smith, as an educational institution and a residential college, could most effectively respond to the challenge of global climate change. The study group’s work culminated in 2017 with a set of recommendations and priorities for campus academic, programming, and operations.

In December 2020, President McCartney underscored our persisting commitment by joining Smith College to the “All In” movement on climate action and a clean recovery signed by thousands of institutions, countries, and states.

Our Carbon Footprint

The carbon emissions from our campus operations, financial investments, purchasing decisions, energy sources, and campus-wide individual behaviors impact our greater community and world. In order to slow, stop, and mitigate Smith’s climate change impacts we must track, monitor, and minimize our greenhouse gas emissions.&

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

Since 1990, we’ve tracked our scope 1 and 2 emissions, made up of the provision of electricity and the heating and cooling our 100+ buildings and fuel for the campus fleet. Ninety percent of our emissions are from scopes 1 and 2. Upon signing the Second Nature Presidents Climate Commitment in 2007, we began accounting for the scope 3 emission categories required by the commitment; this includes commuting and air travel. We have recently included waste data, which is designated as optional.

Since 2004, our designated baseline year, we’ve decreased our net emissions by 29% through the installation of our co-generation power plant, energy efficiency measures, and efficient new buildings.

[charts here maybe]

Faculty and Student Research into Scope 3 Emissions

In addition to commuting, air travel, and waste, we have robust faculty and student research around other scope 3 emissions categories - specifically, food purchasing and construction. Reporting in these areas is not required in our carbon commitment and in general, accounting for emissions associated with these categories globally is challenging. However, we use this challenge as an exciting opportunity for engaging faculty and student research. Several key projects in the past few years have investigated and illuminated the following:

A 2018 ENV 312 capstone project, researched by Cara Dietz ‘18, Eliana Gevelber ‘18, Gray Li ‘18, estimated the college’s total scope 3 emissions and found construction, travel, and food to be our highest emitting areas; and thus, the top three areas to prioritize further research around accounting and mitigation.
A 2020 ENV 312 capstone project, researched by Emelyn Chiang ‘20, Aidan Coffin Ness ‘20, Frances Duncan ‘20, Kelsey Towne ‘20, used the recommendations from the 2018 ENV 312 group to conduct further research around food purchasing and potential ghg emission reductions through milk and beef substitutes. This project won the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) campus sustainability research award. Smith Dining is XXX ….
A 2020 ENV 312 capstone project, researched by Larissa Holland ‘21, Rebecca Miller ‘21, and Lydia Sheyda ‘21, used the recommendations from the 2018 ENV 312 group to conduct further research into how the college might account for embodied carbon emissions in new construction, using the new Neilson Library as a case study.
As a 2020 CEEDS Faculty Research Fellow, Associate Professor of Economics Susan Sayre is researching scope 3 carbon emissions that result from food purchasing and the degree to which communicating food carbon footprint shifts student food preference. Research findings will shape Smith’s food messaging strategies in order to further mitigate the impact of carbon emissions associated with Smith’s campus operations.

The Study Group on Climate Change

The Study Group on Climate Change (SGCC) recommendations aimed to infuse learning and action around climate change into all modes and means of work at the college. A couple recommendation highlights include an internalized cost of carbon and an academic themed year on climate change. [link to the report]

Investment Strategy

Carbon Proxy Pricing

Faculty Hiring

Year on Climate Change

Landscape Master Plan

Co-Generation Heat & Power

Transportation

Refrigerants

Study Group on Climate Change

The SGCC recognized the importance of our endowment’s investment strategy being consistent with and supportive of the college’s mission and values. Historically, Smith has used its role as an investor to act on specific social issues. The SGCC viewed climate change as clearly such an issue. With this in mind, a set of recommendations were submitted to the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR), a subcommittee of the board of trustees’ Investment Committee. The recommendations include establishing a student social investment fund and group, overseen by the Conway Center for Entrepreneurship, as well as the movement away from investments in fossil fuels.

In October 2019, the ACIR directed our college’s outsourced endowment management firm, to exclude from the Smith College endowment all future investments with fossil fuel–specific managers, and began an immediate phaseout of all current investments with fossil fuel–specific managers in the Smith College endowment. This phaseout will be achieved through the sale, maturity or liquidation of investments held by fossil fuel–specific managers over a projected period of 15 years.

The Committee on Academic Priorities has prioritized climate change and sustainability in its faculty appointment decisions to strengthen and diversify Smith’s academic expertise and curricular offerings across the divisions and through disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. As of 2020, over 55% of all academic departments had at least one faculty member whose research intersects with or centers on sustainability issues.

The Year on Climate Change was a collegewide initiative during the 2019–20 academic year to critically examine the complex and urgent issue of climate change. As a college of and for the world, the program was an invitation to the entire Smith community, no matter background or passion, to engage in a manner that was uniquely liberal arts—through deep and authentic collaboration, critical thinking, listening and action. All students, staff, faculty and alumnae were encouraged and invited to create and attend events throughout the year.

[need some text here, a link to the master plan, and maybe an image]

College Vehicles

The college uses about 86 vehicles to perform necessary operations and support student transportation. As of 2021, four of those were hybrid or all-electric vehicles. However, faculty and student research such as Carbon Neutrality Should Not Be the End Goal: Lessons for Institutional Climate Action From U.S. Higher Education and Electrifying Landscape Management by four 2020 graduates are beginning to have more power to guide and inform our vehicle purchase and rental.

Commuting

Smith is located in a fairly rural setting. However, there are convenient and inexpensive alternative transportation options including bus, rideshare, and bikeshare programs. While the carbon emissions associated with commuting for students is almost non-existent because we are a residential college, over 90% of staff and faculty drive alone to and from work. We are evaluating our parking and alternative transport incentive programs to see how we can increase use of zero-emissions transportation.

Academic-related travel

In 2018, students Cara Dietz ‘18, Eliana Gevelber ‘18, and Gray Li ‘18, evaluated Smith’s purchasing records to estimate the carbon emissions associated with supply chain of goods and services we purchase as a college, also known as Scope 3 emissions. Their research found that air travel by faculty, staff, and students, paid for by the college accounts for almost 20% of our Scope 3 carbon emissions. This does not account for student-funded travel associated with college. While Smith is not actively working to reduce college-funded travel, we will use the lessons learned within the pandemic about remote work and convening to encourage faculty and staff to pause and get creative before they fly.