Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 60.91
Liaison Sarah Fortner
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

Carleton College
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.79 / 3.00 Alexandra Miller
Sustainability Program Coordinator
Energy and Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Greenhouse gas emissions inventory

Has the institution conducted a GHG emissions inventory within the previous three years that includes all Scope 1 and 2 emissions? :
Yes

A copy of the most recent GHG emissions inventory:
Carleton_FY20_Sustainability_Solutions_Source_Summary.xlsx

A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:
Carleton uses the Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform (SIMAP) methodology.

This tool is used by Sightlines as part of the Sustainability Solutions service. Sightlines annually works with Carleton College Facilities staff to collect data to compile, calculate and analyze institutional GHG data.

The change for FY20 is using location-based for our electricity emissions and takes into account the local grid. We also had our geothermal system for 50% of our buildings completely online. Although the majority of our students went home for the spring term due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not see a major decrease in emissions due to this.

Has the GHG emissions inventory been validated internally by personnel who are independent of the GHG accounting and reporting process and/or verified by an independent, external third party?:
Yes

A brief description of the GHG inventory verification process:
Carleton hires Sightlines, a facilities benchmarking and analysis firm, to assist with and verify our annual greenhouse gas emissions data. This information is reviewed twice with Facilities staff to confirm the accuracy and explain major changes.

The attached presentation is a summary of their work.

Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
Carleton_FY20_Presentation_compiled_to_present_post-pres.pptx

Scope 1 GHG emissions
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
Weight in MTCO2e
Stationary combustion 4,791 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) 123 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
4,914 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 2 GHG emissions
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year (market-based):
Weight in MTCO2e
Imported electricity 3,517 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Imported thermal energy 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:
3,517 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

GHG emissions from biomass combustion
Gross GHG emissions from biogenic sources, performance year:
0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 3 GHG emissions
Does the GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from the following sources?:
Yes or No Weight in MTCO2e
Business travel Yes 1,724 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Commuting Yes 497 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Purchased goods and services Yes 44 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Capital goods No 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 No 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Waste generated in operations Yes 942 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources --- 1,171 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
4,378 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
Employee Commuting: used a survey plus pro-rated the amount for spring 2020 when employees worked remotely.
Business Travel: credit card receipts from the business office on flights with our accounting codes.
Purchased Goods: Paper
Waste: all solid municipal and construction waste produced on campus.
Other Sources: Study Abroad Air Travel, Scope 2 Transmission & Distribution Losses, and Wastewater.

Part 2. Air pollutant emissions inventory

Has the institution completed an inventory within the previous three years to quantify its air pollutant emissions?:
Yes

Annual weight of emissions for::
Weight of Emissions
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) 8.34 Tons
Sulfur oxides (SOx) 0.18 Tons
Carbon monoxide (CO) 5.46 Tons
Particulate matter (PM) ---
Ozone (O3) ---
Lead (Pb) ---
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) ---
Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) ---
Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations 0.50 Tons

Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:
Yes or No
Major stationary sources Yes
Area sources No
Mobile sources Yes
Commuting Yes
Off-site electricity production Yes

None
A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:
The Carleton College maintenance department submits how much fuel we burn and contracts with a third-party company to test stack emissions to determine the efficiency of our burn. This company produces an air emissions inventory for use by the college. This data varies depending on the weather but our operations have not changed.

Optional Fields

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity (location-based):
3,517 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy (location-based) :
0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Website URL where information about the institution’s emissions inventories is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.