| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 85.42 |
| Liaison | Lisa Kilgore |
| Submission Date | March 4, 2021 |
Cornell University
EN-11: Inter-Campus Collaboration
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.00 / 3.00 |
Is the institution currently a member of a national or international higher education sustainability network?:
The name of the national or international sustainability network(s):
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
Ivy+ Sustainability Network
International Sustainability Campus Network (ISCN)
Does the institution actively participate in a regional, state/provincial, or local higher education sustainability network?:
The name of the regional, state/provincial or local sustainability network(s):
The Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI)
Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium (NECSC)
New York Coalition for Sustainability in Higher Education (NYCSHE)
Get Your Green Back Tompkins (GYGBT)
Has the institution presented at a higher education sustainability conference during the previous year?:
A list or brief description of the conference(s) and presentation(s):
Cornell hosted and provided several workshops and presentations at the 2020 New York State of Sustainability Conference. https://sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/2020-state-ny-sustainability-conference
- Keynote Panel: Sustainability and Resiliency in Times of Crisis
- Keynote: UN IPCC 1.5 Report: How to Reach Low Climate Targets
- What is “Sustainability” in the Times of Anti-Racist Uprisings & a Global Pandemic?
- One Health Sustainability: Human, Animal, and Environmental Health are All Connected (Keynote)
- Mission Sustainability: To-Do List Module
- Scope 3 Analysis of Cornell University’s Carbon Budget
- Cornell’s STARS Report Toolkit
- Introducing the PowerHouse: A Renewable Energy Outreach Tool
- Renewable Energy, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
- Environmental Justice & Racial Justice Intersectionality
- Career Opportunities in Sustainability & Business
- Environmental Governance + ECOnomy: Baraka Murphy Land Bank Policy for New York State
- Using Food to Tell the Climate Change Story: We All Eat
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)- numerous presentations
2020 Ivy+ Sustainability Network, Annual Meeting - numerous presentations
Has the institution submitted a case study during the previous year to an external higher education sustainability resource center or awards program?:
A list or brief description of the sustainability resource center or awards program and submission(s):
Second Nature's Internal Carbon Pricing in Higher Ed: Toolkit
https://secondnature.org/climate-action-guidance/carbon-pricing/
Ivy+ Sustainability Neutrality Planning & Financing Incentives Presentation - presentation and supporting data for Ivy+ Executive Vice Presidents' of Facilities group to assist in the comparison of climate action planning strategies, plan creation, and high-impact successful strategies in financing for climate neutrality.
Has the institution had employees or students serving on a board or committee of a sustainability network or conference during the previous three years?:
A list or brief description of the board or committee appointment(s):
Cornell University has active representatives on the Advisory Board for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), and the Steering Committee of the New York Coalition for Sustainability in Higher Education (NYCSHE).
The University also has staff, students, and faculty who serve on numerous local sustainability network and event organizing committees, including the The Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI)- an award-winning climate action and clean energy coalition in the Ithaca, NY area made up of community leaders from the education, business, local government, nonprofit, and youth sectors. https://www.tccpi.org/
Does the institution have an ongoing mentoring relationship with another institution through which it assists the institution with its sustainability reporting and/or the development of its sustainability program?:
A brief description of the mentoring relationship and activities:
Cornell is a founding member of the Ivy+ Sustainability group, which expanded membership to Ivy league "plus" campuses outside of the original core Ivy founders. Original founding institutions take on a mentorship role with campuses who are newer to joining the initiative, and/or campuses where value can be increased through an exchange of best practices. Cornell's Campus Sustainability Staff has mentored three campuses in the last two years through the exchange of direct calls and best-practice sharing, including sensitive internal documents, for the purpose of accelerating and expanding those campuses' capacity for carbon neutrality, sustainability financing, and related activities.
Cornell University is a sister university to KAUST in Saudi Arabia. The Campus Sustainability Office at Cornell established a formal mentorship relationship in 2016 which includes international visits, ongoing support for strategic planning & sustainable facilities development, and specific peer support for green labs program development.
Cornell has also provided support to several campuses in creating implementation strategies for inclusion of quadruple bottom line (QBL) data into project decision making, following the release of the 2016 "Options for a Carbon Neutral Campus by 2035" report in which the University used QBL analysis for campus energy project cost-benefit analysis. This direct mentorship is based on connections developed at regional conferences and networks.
Has the institution had employees or students serving as peer reviewers of another institution’s sustainability data and/or STARS submission during the previous three years?:
A brief description of the peer review activities:
As a member of the Ivy+ Sustainability Network, Cornell provides ongoing GHG emissions data review and inventory improvement on a rotating basis with other campuses in this group, each year. Data is reviewed for consistency, data errors, and agreed-upon standards for sharing GHG emissions within this group. The review process is formal, rotational, and non-reciprocal.
A brief description of other inter-campus collaborative efforts around sustainability during the previous year :
Cornell organizes the annual Cornell Energy Connection Conference through the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise to assist institutions and industry partners in cultivating regional energy connections.
In partnership with Cornell and five other leading universities, The Nature Conservancy established a NatureNet Science Fellows program to create a reservoir of interdisciplinary science talent that will carry out the new work of conservation. The fellowships are awarded annually to six outstanding early-career scientists working at the interface of conservation, business, and technology. Each year, a new postdoctoral fellow begins a two-year post at Cornell, working directly with Cornell faculty and TNC leadership.
Cornell is also a member of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI) , a local climate action and clean energy coalition in the Ithaca, NY area made up of community leaders from the education, business, local government, nonprofit, and youth sectors, through which it provides support for other regional institutions implementing climate and sustainability projects.
Cornell partners with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to provide an online Center for Climate Neutral Research Campuses which helps research campuses of all types evaluate, plan, and implement climate action measures.
The Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions (CICSS) facilitates climate change research and education related to climate science and policy, environmental and agricultural systems, food security, and social-ecological resiliency for campuses nationwide.
Website URL where information about the institution’s inter-campus collaborations is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.