Checking in with the Climate Action Plan 2.0

President Barack Obama has touted his Climate Action Plan to combat global climate change since his 2008 election, but Penn has been developing its Climate Action Plan since before Obama first took office. 

Penn’s current Climate Action Plan 2.0 marks the second five-year stage in increasing environmental sustainability and awareness, while decreasing energy consumption and waste.

At the beginning of February, Obama announced he would allocate more funds to climate-related initiatives. He increased funding for the Environmental Protection Agency from $8.1 billion to $8.6 billion, and increased federal spending on clean-energy. Although Penn does not produce its own clean energy, it buys clean energy from providers and manages its use. 

Launched in 2009, the original CAP was developed to formally integrate sustainability practices into Penn’s culture and to set limits and goals on emissions, energy use and waste. The first CAP ran from 2009 to 2014 and CAP 2.0 launched in the spring of 2014.

CAP 2.0 marks a large expansion of the original CAP as it applies to all of Penn’s building assets — including Penn Medicine — and not just the academic campus.

“A lot of schools now do a Climate Action Plan in their own way,” Director of Environmental Sustainability Daniel Garofalo said, “but Penn has been leading the way from the very beginning.” Penn was the first Ivy League school to sign the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2007 under President Gutmann.

Penn has reduced its carbon emissions by 18 percent from 2007 to 2014, and has also reduced energy consumption by 6.6 percent.

CAP 2.0 has six broad initiatives aimed at increasing sustainability and decreasing emissions and waste, including Academics, Utilities and Operations, Physical Environment, Transportation, Waste Minimization & Recycling and Outreach & Engagement.

Penn’s Green Campus Partnership works as an umbrella organization that promotes sustainability projects and awareness in line with CAP. A significant portion of CAP’s work has also been directed under Facilities and Real Estate Services.

“The sustainability work that we do has just been included in the regular things needed to maintain a first-class campus,” Garofalo said. “Whether it’s building new beautiful buildings, maintaining infrastructure or planning for the future, we’re a part of everything [FRES] does.”

A major overall goal of the first CAP was to reduce Penn’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage. “85 percent of Penn’s greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to heating, cooling and operating buildings — there’s the connection for why FRES can play such a huge part,” Garofalo said.

Each of the six CAP initiatives has its own budget, but FRES was unable to provide any specific details on its sustainability budget. All withstanding, Penn’s overall spending on environmental sustainability far exceeds FRES’ lone spending on sustainability.

The projects directed under CAP 2.0 vary greatly in scope and cost. “Not every initiative or subcommittee has a massive budget, and not every project demands a huge coordinated effort,” Garofalo said. “It might only cost a few hundred dollars to put up new bicycle corrals or to make sure someone gets the sustainability seminar they need.”

“One example of how we might use our budget,” Sustainability Strategic Planning Associate Sarah Fisher said, “is hiring a consultant and then figuring out how to bring people together to ‘green’ our renovation guidelines for all schools.”

“We really function as a gatherer of people, uniting everyone together to push a project forward or determine how to do something more sustainably,” Fisher added.

Students, professors and staff can seek Penn Green Fund grants from Penn’s Green Campus Partnership for eco-friendly ideas that promote CAP 2.0’s goals and objectives. 

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