Climate change is one of the most serious challenges facing the world today. As a high priority goal of the Sustainability Plan, launched in fall 2018 by President Rowe, William & Mary committed to creating a Climate Action Roadmap for the W&M campus, including all graduate schools.
W&M has an ambitious 2030 carbon neutral campus goal and a partnership with the University of Virginia to support each other’s climate action progress. This campus carbon neutrality goal is part of a larger Climate Action Roadmap that focuses on what W&M can uniquely contribute to broader climate action as a higher education institution.
Climate Action Roadmap Goals
Goals broken up into Education & Academics, Carbon Neutrality, and Community Action
Education & Academics
Curriculum & Teaching: Encourage academic units to further incorporate climate and sustainability into teaching and research.
Research & Scholarship: Encourage academic units to further incorporate climate and sustainability into research and scholarship.
For All Time Coming: Build student sustainability knowledge while providing experiential and applied learning opportunities anchored in the Tidewater region from their first-year to their last – and beyond.
Employee Development: Sustainability is part of every new employee’s training and all employee’s professional development offerings.
Sustainability Certificates, Coastal Resiliency: Explore a coastal resiliency certificate with the potential to create a suite of sustainability certificates.
Curriculum & Research Support: Provide tools, resources, and opportunities for faculty in all areas to incorporate sustainability into curriculum and research.
2030 Carbon Neutral Campus
100% Renewable Electricity: Source an equivalent of 100% of the main campus and all graduate schools’ electricity from renewables.
Heating/Cooling Strategy: Create a strategy to address the use of fossil fuels used in buildings for heating and cooling.
15% Building Energy Reduction: Reduce building energy use 15%.
Net Zero Campus Fleet: Create a strategy for a campus fleet that has net zero carbon emissions.
Carbon Proxy Program: Explore a Carbon Proxy Program, which assigns a “what-if” price to offsetting emissions for consideration in decision-making such as capital projects.
Higher Education Resilience Planning Worksheet: Explore a campus resilience planning worksheet tailored for higher education grounds and operations.
Community Action
65% Waste Diversion: Reduce the volume of municipal waste going to the landfill by 65%.
Sustainable Procurement: Incorporate social and environmental sustainability as a factor in purchasing practices.
Plant-Forward Food: Increase plant-based and plant-forward options offered through the university, with an emphasis on sourcing locally.
Green Transit Design: Expand and incentivize green transportation options on and off campus by collaborating locally and regionally.
Hiring Practices: Offer convenient resources for those that would like to hire employees who apply a lens of sustainability in their area of expertise.
Study Abroad Program: Develop resources, procedures and events that allow for students, faculty and staff to plan international travel that enriches through a global perspective, builds positive relationships with host communities, and improves environmental impacts.
