Emory University
PA-1: Sustainability Coordination

Climate Action Task Force: By bringing together the skillsets and expertise of students, faculty, staff, and community members, the Task Force helped Emory center community engagement in its climate action and resiliency planning processes, fulfill its commitments as part of Second Nature’s Climate Leadership Network, and support the enterprise in achieving its GHG emission reduction goals. The Task Force served as both an advisor on the Climate Action Plan and Resilience Assessment as well as provided input on how to best engage and respond to community priorities. The Task Force met a total of twelve times, with most meetings occurring during the performance period.

Sustainable Food Committee: The Sustainable Food Committee was appointed by President Wagner in early 2007 to develop recommendations for meeting the food-related goals contained in the University's Sustainability Vision. Specifically, the Committee was charged with developing steps to meet Emory's goal of procuring 75 percent of ingredients in our cafeterias and hospitals from local or sustainably-grown sources by 2015. This goal has been extended to 2025. The Committee is also tasked with working with farmers and distributors to bolster regional food supplies, overseeing a farmer's market and organic farm on campus, developing guidelines for sustainable food procurement, overseeing the Educational Garden Project, and expanding awareness of sustainability issues related to food. The Committee met approximately monthly during AY2022. 

Emory Healthcare Sustainability Council: In 2008, the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences appointed a Sustainability Task Force to develop a set of recommendations to guide senior administrators in setting goals and year-to-year strategies that will improve current practices or implement new best practices in sustainability for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC). It has evolved into a grassroots forum consisting of a broad representation of faculty, staff, and administrators from the healthcare-related parts of Emory. It has undertaken a review of activities in healthcare and has made high-level recommendations for policy and practice with an emphasis on identifying and piloting recycling and reprocessing programs for various waste streams. During the performance period, the Council met quarterly.

Committee on the Environment: Created in 1990, the Committee on the Environment is a standing committee of the Emory University Senate. The Committee is comprised of faculty, staff, and students. The Committee works closely with Campus Services and the Office of Sustainability Initiatives and meets monthly during the academic year to review all projects undertaken by Emory that impact the environment, including new buildings, transportation initiatives, and forest management, and makes recommendations for consideration by the administration.

Sustainability Representatives: This group recruits at least one representative from each of Emory’s major buildings with the goals of assisting with the development, communication, and implementation of Emory’s sustainability programs to the campus community, and providing feedback to the Office of Sustainability Initiatives on these programs. The group met in 2022 but paused for the duration of the performance period due to staffing turnover. It has resumed operation at the time of submission.

Emory Climate Action Task Force

Sustainable Food Committee

Emory Healthcare Sustainability Council

University Senate Committee on the Environment

Sustainability Representatives

Emory's Office of Sustainability Initiatives was founded in September 2006, with the hiring of Ciannat Howett as Director. Emory’s 2005 Sustainability Vision called on the Office of Sustainability to help restore our global ecosystem, foster healthy living, and reduce the environmental impact of Emory University and Healthcare. In 2015, Emory adopted a new Sustainability Vision & Strategic Plan outlining its aspirations for the next decade.

The Office of Sustainability Initiatives coordinates many programs and partnerships that can be categorized into the following initiatives: academics & research, biodiversity & landscapes, climate solutions, energy, food & dining, green buildings, purchasing, social justice, transportation, waste, water, and wellbeing. The Office creates and joins multiple campus and community task forces and committees to support the sustainability efforts of faculty, staff, and students across the University and Emory’s Healthcare system. Currently operating out of Campus Services, OSI serves across the enterprise of ~40,000 students, staff, and faculty.

From the copy room to the operating room, from the classroom to the residence hall, the Emory Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) guides the efforts to meet the challenges of sustainability across all of Emory’s institutions. Emory OSI carries out this imperative by helping to restore the global ecosystem, fostering healthy living, and reducing the University’s impact on the local environment. Founded in 2006, Emory OSI has firmly established the University’s place as a sustainability leader in higher education. In 2015, building on a decade of accomplishment to enhance sustainability at Emory University and Emory Healthcare, the Office of Sustainability Initiatives has worked with representatives of many academic, operational, and healthcare units to carry out a strategic planning effort to chart the next five to ten years. The effort resulted in the Sustainability Vision & Strategic Plan, 2025, which guides the enterprise’s efforts to be a model of transformative practices and sustainable choices at every level.

Since the launch of OSI, Emory has made significant progress in achieving the aggressive goals established by the Sustainability Visioning Committee in 2006, including exceeding the goal of 25% energy use reduction per square foot by 2015 and recycling 95% of construction and demolition waste. Significant progress has also been made in the areas of ecosystem restoration, transportation, local and sustainable food procurement, sustainable building practices, awareness of sustainability practices, and integration of sustainability into the curriculum. Systems of measurement have been established to monitor our progress and encourage adaptive management.

In the past three years, significant accomplishments of the initiative include but are not limited to the following: reducing University GHG emissions by 39% from a 2010 baseline; continuing to support the renowned Piedmont Project; funding over $80,000 through OSI Incentives Funds to 35 student-, faculty- and staff-led project teams; continuing to implement the enterprise-wide Zero Waste Ambassador program; increasing sustainable food procurement to about 40% in Emory Dining locations; developing a virtual WaterHub tour of the award-winning water reclamation facility to accommodate the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic; implementing a solar PPA resulting in more than 2 MW of solar installed during the performance period; retrofitting campus parking decks with LED lighting.

While published outside of the performance period, OSI assembled an Implementation Progress Report that details progress made on the 2015-2025 Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan, which is inclusive of accomplishments during the performance period and linked in the Notes section.

Reporting to the Vice President for Campus Services and Chief Planning Officer, the Associate Vice President for Sustainability, Resilience and Economic Inclusion oversees enterprise-wide initiatives and strategies related to sustainability and resilience planning for Emory University and Emory Healthcare. Organizes and collaborates with disparate university resources to drive sustainable, resilient outcomes including energy and utilities' strategic planning efforts to promote economic inclusion through procurement and other operational programs. Serves as a visionary leader and organizational strategist to help Emory become a national model for sustainability, resilience, and regenerative enterprise. Creates the strategy through broad institutional engagement to integrate sustainability and resiliency into operational and academic functions of Emory University and Emory Healthcare; networks with and facilitates internal and external resources and evaluates the needs of the community in these areas. Is responsible for developing programs and new initiatives to enhance Emory's stature and creates detailed implementation plans for those initiatives. Engages internal and external constituents to define, develop, and implement sustainable strategies while advocating the value proposition of sustainable and resilience programs. Formulates action plans with defined objectives, targets, and responsibilities to support agreed-upon sustainability strategies. Ensures appropriate internal controls and measurement systems are in place to support sustainability efforts. Reviews complex programs and projects and drives the development of pro formas to view sustainability investments in a holistic nature creating client and institutional value. Develops and considers programs to improve employee health, well-being, and material supply chains. Collaborates with the Enterprise Risk Management program to ensure sustainability initiatives are in alignment with the company's broader Enterprise Risk Management program. Maintains, creates, and implements communication strategies to promote broad awareness of initiatives and develops enterprise-wide processes and organizational structures to support inquiry, change, and assessment in these areas of focus. Builds effective partnerships and relationships with surrounding communities and key metro Atlanta institutions and establishes effective linkages with units across campus to enhance their overall sustainability, resilience, and economic inclusion efforts. Builds effective partnerships with external organizations to support sustainability efforts. Coordinates, supports, and expands opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and administrators to learn about these issues throughout the academic and operational dimensions of Emory's enterprise. Is articulate and inspirational while speaking in public forums such as community events and academic environments. Provides briefings to the Board of Trustees and various leadership across the enterprise.

Collaborates with the Associate Vice President for Resilience, Economic Inclusion, and Sustainability; the Senior Director of Resilience and Utility Strategies; university committees and campus groups in fulfilling Emory's enterprise-wide sustainability vision. Oversees staff responsible for implementation of all Emory University and Healthcare initiatives related to sustainability. Functions as a leader and organizational strategist to help Emory become a national model for sustainability in higher education and health systems. Works with team to integrate sustainability into both the operational and academic functions of the University; networks with and facilitates internal and external resources to accomplish this goal and evaluates the needs of the Emory University and the Emory Healthcare communities. Is responsible for developing programs and new initiatives to enhance Emory's stature and creating detailed implementation plans for these initiatives. Oversees the implementation of communication strategies to promote broad awareness of initiatives and helps develop enterprise-wide processes and organizational structures to support sustainability inquiry, change, and assessment. Builds effective partnerships and relationships with surrounding communities and key Atlanta institutions and establishes effective linkages with units across the institution that may have sustainability initiatives in process or as part of their overall strategy. Coordinates, supports, and expands opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and administrators to learn about sustainability issues throughout the academic and operational dimensions of the enterprise. Reports to the Associate Vice President for Resilience, Economic Inclusion, and Sustainability. Performs related responsibilities as required.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Master's degree in an appropriate field and five years of experience and leadership in the area of sustainability, resource management, and/or related initiatives. Specific experience in the areas of sustainability policies, sustainable food systems, healthy living programs, conservation, energy, and waste and/or water management is preferred. Higher education experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate the completion of Emory’s annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) inventory, related surveys, from data collection to output analysis
• Conduct necessary research and participate in relevant working groups to further Emory’s understanding and calculation of scope 3 emissions
• Grow and maintain Emory’s knowledge of the carbon offsets global landscape, and work toward establishing an offsets program for Emory-sponsored air travel that has local and social justice benefits
• Assist OSI with data collection and the organization of information and submissions for annual reporting for Emory’s memberships in AASHE STARS, The Listening Post and Ivy+, Climate Leadership Network, and United Nations Race to Zero
• Support the ongoing work of the CLN-required campus-community task force. Support the campus-community resilience assessment
• Assist OSI with effective, strategic, and transparent communication strategies to educate, inform, and inspire the Emory community.
• Assist OSI with other projects, research, outreach, and education, as needed, that relate to generating climate solutions on Emory’s campus and fostering a supporting campus culture.

Minimum Qualifications

A bachelor's degree in environmental sciences, environmental studies, environmental health, public health, atmospheric sciences or engineering, or related field and some climate- and sustainability-related extracurricular, training, educational, or internship experience. Proficiency with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and a desire to learn additional software as needed.

Desired Qualifications

Excellent organizational and project management skills. At least 1 year of work experience, including internships, in a professional setting. Experience working on campus sustainability and climate action initiatives. GHG accounting and offset experience preferred, though not required. Excellent communication, outreach, presentation, and data management and analysis skills. Collaborative team member who can also work well independently.

The data reported was current at the time of submission.

Implementation Progress Report: https://sustainability.emory.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Implementation-Progress-Report-for-Emorys-2015-2025-Sustainability-Vision-032024.pdf