SUNY New Paltz has announced plans to establish a Carbon Neutrality Task Force to identify a target date and a comprehensive strategy to becoming a carbon-neutral campus by reducing emissions and increasing carbon offsets.
The Office of Campus Sustainability has outlined a working process for the Carbon Neutrality Task Force that includes the following charges:
1) Educate the campus community on the diversity of greenhouse gas and climate solutions.
2) Support climate education across the disciplines an especially in General Education programs, including opportunities for applied sustainability learning.
3) Quantify campus sources of greenhouse gas emissions as well as on-campus carbon sinks like carbon sequestration in the South Forest and application of finished compost.
4) Make recommendations for interim targets and a final target date for carbon neutrality.
5) Develop new internal and external campus partnerships for carbon neutrality.
6) Identify pathways, budget and timeline for decarbonization and electrification of building systems to meet New York State climate goals.
7) Make recommendations to increase campus capacity for achieving carbon neutrality through professional development, strategic hires, external funding and external partnerships.
8) Continue to partner with SUNY’s Large-Scale Renewable Energy Consortium to procure off-site renewable energy to offset 100% of our campus electricity load.
9) Investigate GHG emissions offset opportunities for emissions that cannot be reduced or eliminated by the carbon neutrality date.
We will share more information soon about how members of our community can join our Carbon Neutrality Task Force and get involved in this important work.
