USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative

Practices

What does it mean to "sign" the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC)?

In a nutshell, here's what the scheduled actions required by the ACUPCC entails:

1.  Sign the commitment (the president does this for the institution).

2.  Within two months, the intuitions would be required to do two things:

    a.  Organize to guide the development and implementation of the Climate Action Plan; and     b.  Select at least two of the tangible actions from the following list:

        --Establish a Green Buildings policy
        --Adopt Energy Star certified appliance purchasing
        --Adopt a policy of offsetting air travel emissions
        --Encourage use of public transportation
        --Begin purchasing 15% of power from renewable sources
        --Adopt policy to invest in climate-friendly businesses
        --Participate in waste minimization activities of RecycleMania

USM Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative
Actual implementation will take longer than the two months allowed. Getting started, however, is the key here.

3.  Within one year, all institutions should complete their greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory. This is a critical step because any specific actions (including capital projects) that institutions wish to take toward climate neutrality would be based on the priorities established in the GHG inventory (i.e., pick-off the actions that have the most impact first).

4.  Within two years, all institutions should have completed their Climate Action Plan with recommended steps (e.g., percentage reductions) to be taken along the way, with specific milestone dates.

5.  Throughout this process, the ACUPCC requires public reporting.

ACUPCC Implementation by University System of Maryland institutions

Please send your ideas and comments regarding campus sustainability to green@usmd.edu