July 9, 2007—Nearly 300 college presidents and chancellors nationwide have pledged in recent weeks to take concrete steps to make their campuses “climate neutral” as soon as possible to help combat global warming.
The leaders have all signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which calls for participating educational institutions to complete within a year an inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions and to develop within two years a plan to make the necessary reductions to meet climate neutrality goals.
The Presidents Climate Commitment was first organized last December by ecoAmerica, Second Nature, and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. In June, 70 presidents and chancellors gathered in Washington, DC, for a signing ceremony and meetings with members of Congress, where they discussed ways to reduce their campuses’ “carbon footprints,” along with how to incorporate such efforts into teaching and research.
For a full list of the colleges and universities, as well as information on their environmental initiatives, visit the Climate Commitment Web site.
