AU President Neil Kerwin signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment on April 21, according to Casey Roe, policy director for Eco-Sense.
The Climate Commitment pledges the university to develop a plan for climate neutrality within two years, according to Facilities Management Director Willy Suter.
Suter said there is no doubt that the human impact on climate is a reality and that people must change what they are doing to avoid disaster.
"We're doing this so you have a planet to live on," he said.
The climate neutrality plan includes provisions that would require the university to avoid carbon emissions whenever possible and would require the university to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates to offset emissions it is not able to avoid. An REC is the amount of carbon not emitted because a renewable source produces the energy.
Suter said the university has worked on sustainability for 15 years.
AU uses electric vehicles for facilities management and turns down the heat and air conditioning in non-residential buildings at night, when they are not in use. AU recently purchased offsets - things that, like RECs, offset carbon emissions - from Constellation New Energy, a company that sells electricity, gas and RECs, according to Suter.
The Environmental Issues Project Team, a committee of faculty, staff and students, will be responsible for the plan to become carbon neutral, according to Roe, who serves on the committee.
The Climate Commitment includes a formal process that identifies all the ways the university emits greenhouse gases into the environment. Once the project team finds all the sources, the university will make a prioritized list of how to eliminate greenhouse gases by choosing certain types of equipment, vehicles and purchasing offsets for university travel, he said.
George Washington University also recently signed the Climate Commitment according to the Climate Commitment Web site.
The Climate Commitment has 526 signatories to date, according to Suter.
"This makes us somehow part of an elite group that had made this level of commitment," he said.
Kerwin signed the Climate Commitment a year after he signed the Talloires Declaration on April 10, 2007. The Talloires Declaration is a values statement, while the Climate Commitment is more of a dated commitment to achieve climate change, according to Suter.
"That was sort of talking the talk and this is walking the walk," he said.
The Climate Commitment is important because universities have an obligation to lead the way toward sustainable practices, Roe said.
Members of Eco-Sense attended open forums to encourage Kerwin to sign the commitment and explained that it would be reasonable to achieve its goal, she said.
Roe said she looks forward to the planning process.
"I'm very excited that we signed it," she said.
Although AU has improved its sustainability in transportation, purchasing decisions and the endowment, it still has a long way to go, Roe said.
