Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 46.40
Liaison David Heithaus
Submission Date Jan. 20, 2021

STARS v2.2

Kenyon College
IN-5: Carbon Mitigation Project Development

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 0.50 David Heithaus
Director of Green Initiatives
Provost
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

During the previous three years, the institution has::
Yes or No
Developed a peer reviewed carbon offsets project that follows an existing carbon reduction protocol No
Developed an innovative carbon offsets project that follows a new or modified project protocol Yes

A brief description of the institution’s carbon mitigation projects:
Kenyon is committed to offsetting unavoidable emissions such as student travel and commuting in local, accountable ways. Leveraging our rural location, our primary mechanisms for offsets are reforestation projects and proactive land management. While we monitor carbon sequestration in many of our wood lots, grasslands and wetlands, we have also planted over 10,000 trees in former agricultural land specifically to act as carbon sinks. Laboratory classes and summer research students have monitored Net Primary Productivity against respiration for above-ground carbon sequestration as well as forest litter carbon content and soil carbon sequestration. As this work continues, we plan on expanding monitoring to soil carbon sequestration relative to our yard waste and dining hall composting programs. In 2021 we intend to begin incentivizing regenerative agriculture on the few parcels of land that are still leased for grazing and traditional row-cropping.

We have not yet engaged a third party for verification but we intend to in 2021 or 2022.

Much of the data collection has been coordinated by Dr. Andrew Kerkhoff though classes and summer research.

https://www.kenyon.edu/directory/andrew-kerkhoff/

Documentation of the institution’s carbon mitigation project:
Website URL where documentation of the carbon mitigation project is available:
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Optional Fields

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Supporting document demonstrates a typical year's data collection and sampling protocols.

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.