Boston University
EN-10: Community Partnerships

The Boston Green Ribbon Commission is a group of 36 business, institutional, and civic leaders in Boston working to develop shared strategies for fighting climate change in coordination with the City’s Climate Action Plan. President Brown is a member and active participant. Over the last decade, the GRC has made critical contributions to the development of the City of Boston’s climate strategy. Climate Ready Boston, which the GRC initiated and championed, is now leading to direct investment in resilience projects and regulations to guide future development. The Commission’s Carbon Free Boston report led by the Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy (now known as the Institute for Global Sustainability) is helping to shape the city’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with a strong emphasis on ways to achieve equitable outcomes for socially vulnerable populations in Boston. BU’s associate vice president for sustainability co-chairs the Higher Education Working Group. The mission of the GRC HEWG is to leverage the higher education sector’s capabilities for climate action by sharing knowledge and fostering collaboration within and across sectors for the City of Boston to meet its climate goals. The GRC HEWG is organized with three task forces: Task Force 1) support climate action planning and implementation across the higher education sector, Task Force 2) facilitate collaborative research that leverages the higher education sector's capabilities to promote solutions for equitable climate resilience and mitigation in the greater Boston area, and Task Force 3) transfer knowledge to other sectors to accelerate change for equitable implementation of climate mitigation and resilience. BU’s sustainability director co-chairs Task Force 1, the director of the Institute for Global Sustainability participates on Task Force 2, and the associate vice president for sustainability participates in Task Force 3. https://greenribboncommission.org/about/#people https://greenribboncommission.org/working-group/higher-education/ https://greenribboncommission.org/document/carbon-free-boston/

Longwood Collective brings institutions together to share best practices and expertise to solve common problems. Boston University participates on an ongoing basis and has provided thought leadership especially on renewable energy procurement, Zero Waste, and input on the development of Boston's Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance. https://www.longwoodcollective.org/sustainability

C-HEAT: A study of heat exposure in Chelsea and East Boston, Massachusetts

C-HEAT is a collaboration between GreenRoots, Inc., an independent community-based environmental justice organization based in Chelsea, MA, and the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH). The C-HEAT team focused on creating space for residents of the Chelsea and East Boston communities to discuss experiencing intense heat during summer which raises community awareness to climate change and sharing creativity in adaptations. https://www.c-heatproject.org/

This represents FY2023 BU Metrics.