Indiana University adopts climate change plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2040

A new Indiana University plan for addressing climate change across its campuses is being touted by officials and environmental advocates as a benefit for all Hoosiers — and an important tool to help attract a new generation of students passionate about a sustainable, green future.

The IU Climate Action Plan approved in September outlines a path for the institution to reach carbon neutrality by 2040 through reducing greenhouse gas emissions by relying less on carbon-producing energy sources, making campus buildings and class schedules more efficient and changing some behaviors.

The voluntary plan, which is non-binding, dovetails with an international campaign called "Net Zero" that aims to avert potentially devastating impacts of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emission to near zero. It includes short- and long-term goals for addressing climate change and sustainability across IU campuses.

The effort is critical for more than just reducing carbon emissions, said Gabe Filippelli, executive director of the Environmental Resilience Institute at IU and member of the committee developed the plan.

“I know there is going to be a large cohort of students that will chose not to go to a university that does not have a Climate Action Plan,” Filippelli said. “That’s how passionate that generation is about the future.”

Pamela Whitten, IU president, said in a statement the "plan will create a legacy that benefits the people of Indiana for many generations.”

IU established a committee in early 2022 to put together the final report. Led by IU’s Vice President for Capital Planning and Facilities Tom Morrison, the committee included a cohort of faculty staff and students. The school was one of the last in the Big 10 to adopt a roadmap to reaching "Net Zero."

A student environmental group that has pushed for more than a year to get the school to develop the plan said it is pleased and will now shift its focus to making sure the school stays on track to meet the ambitious goals.

Colleges are also large consumers of energy, Filippelli said, and if IU doesn’t do something about that, then it’s missing the boat.

Who is leading IU’s Climate Action Plan?

Jessica Davis, IU’s Chief Sustainability Officer, will oversee a new leadership team responsible for the project.

Davis has been with IU for nine years and her new role will coordinate and centralize implementation of the plan. She immediately began the process of hiring three directors, housed at different campuses to help roll out the plan.

“Once those directors are settled we’ll look at their skillsets and maybe find the opportunity to hire more,” Davis said. “Each campus gets a plan implementation committee, and the director is responsible for leading those committees and implementation on each campus in the directors’ portfolio.”

Why is the Climate Action Plan important?

Each of IU’s campuses will have its own specific path toward the 2040 goal as there are some inherent differences where customization of the plan will be needed in each location, Davis said. The Climate Action Plan is meant to be a fluid, living document that can evolve as new technology and solutions present themselves.

There is a worldwide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the rise of global temperatures. The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says exceeding temperatures risks amplifying the effects of climate change. Achieving global "Net Zero" by 2050 will limit those effects, the UN's Paris Agreement says.

As the effects of climate change continue, Davis said universities are using air conditioning systems for longer periods of time, using more energy and becoming more expensive.

“As the keepers of all these state assets, we need to be running as efficiently as possible to do right by the citizens of Indiana and use tax dollars efficiently,” she said.

How will the climate plan be financed?

To maintain progress toward the 2040 timeline, the action plan outlines how the university can fund its carbon neutral journey. The university will avoid renewable energy credit, carbon offsets and other non-direct solutions.

Instead, it will allocate a portion of its repair and rehabilitation budget toward energy efficient improvements, create a Campus Energy Fund through energy savings, and partner with the state for capital improvement projects.

The university will not add costs to students through tuition or fee increases and will avoid negatively impacting the funding for academic and research budgets.

What’s the future of the plan?

Students for a New Green World, a campus organization, had been working and organizing around the formation of a climate action plan for three semesters prior to its publication. President of the club, Soha Vora, said the group is very happy the plan passed.

“We are very pleased to see the commitments to create implementation teams on each campus,” Vora said. “We’re hoping to have representation from students, faculty and experts, so our focus for next semester is making sure this kind of thing actually happens.”

The plan is missing a timeline, Vora said, and the student organization would like to see specific goals and deadlines soon.

“We’d really like to see transparency and a tracking dashboard that’s updated regularly,” Vora said.

Planning for climate change: Indiana University forms committee to develop climate action plan, students want commitments

One recommendation of the plan is to build out a public dashboard, Davis said, and the university is in the process of benchmarking what other universities are doing and use that to inform what IU builds.

The university already publishes some public dashboards around greenhouse gas emissions and utility consumption, but the dashboards Vora wants to see regularly updated and IU is working on will be related specifically to the goals outlined in the climate action plan.

“It’s really exciting and represents IU’s most significant sustainability commitments to date,” Davis said of the finalized plan. “That’s an incredible win that we are all really excited to celebrate and now it’s time to buckle up and work.”

Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at karl.schneider@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @karlstartswithk

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana University plans for climate change, carbon neutrality