Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	75.15
Liaison	Laura Young
Submission Date	March 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

Michigan State University
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	2.56 / 3.00	Laura Young Sustainability Program Coordinator Administration-EVP-Office of 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:

MSU_STARS_2.2_OP_01_GHG_Inventory_FY2019_-_Upload.pdf

A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:

Infrastructure Planning and Facilities is responsible for gathering data to support the calculation of the GHG emissions. In addition, Sightlines was used as a third party validator of GHG emissions and benchmarks with other universities. The emission factors and methodology used are derived from “Cool Air - Clean Planet” calculators and Version 2.1 of the “WRI GHG Protocol Initiative” (https://ghgprotocol.org/calculation-tools#cross_sector_tools_id)

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:

MSU has used the third party validator Sightlines to benchmark and assess GHG emissions. In addition, data is also reviewed internally. For the data reporting timeframe (FY2019), data prepared by Infrastructure Planning and Facilities was reviewed by the Director of Sustainability and the Associate Vice President for Administration who were independent of the GHG accounting and reporting process.

Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:

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Scope 1 GHG emissions

Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:

	Weight in MTCO2e
Stationary combustion	376,689.38 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions)	4,200.69 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:

380,890.07 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 2 GHG emissions

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year (market-based):

	Weight in MTCO2e
Imported electricity	48,473.11 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Imported thermal energy	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:

48,473.11 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	27,965 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Commuting	Yes	38,632 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Purchased goods and services	Yes	714 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Capital goods	No	---
Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2	No	---
Waste generated in operations	Yes	19,562 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources	Yes	1,967 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:

88,840 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:

MSU has used the third party validator Sightlines to inventory and assess scope 3 GHG emissions. The data reported under purchased goods and services only accounts for paper purchases. Business air travel is only accounted for Delta Airlines flights. The data in other sources accounts for Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses. The data is validated by Sightlines and also reviewed internally. For the data reporting timeframe (FY2019), data prepared by Infrastructure Planning and Facilities was reviewed by the Director of Sustainability and the Associate Vice President for Administration who were independent of the GHG accounting and reporting process.

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)	429.59 Tons
Sulfur oxides (SOx)	2.72 Tons
Carbon monoxide (CO)	270.90 Tons
Particulate matter (PM)	24.21 Tons
Ozone (O3)	0 Tons
Lead (Pb)	0 Tons
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)	0 Tons
Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs)	0 Tons
Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations	0 Tons

Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:

	Yes or No
Major stationary sources	Yes
Area sources	No
Mobile sources	No
Commuting	No
Off-site electricity production	No

None

A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:

MSU uses the Michigan Air Emissions Reporting System (MAERS) and the EPA greenhouse gas annual reporting process. Emissions are quantified by the use of both Predictive Emissions Monitoring System (PEMS) and emission factor calculations.

Optional Fields

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity (location-based):

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Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy (location-based) :

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Website URL where information about the institution’s emissions inventories is available:

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

https://www.egle.state.mi.us/maers/emissions_query_results.asp?SRN=K3249&Facility_Name=&EI_Year=2018&City=&County=&AQD_District=&cmdSubmit=Submit+Query

FY19 was selected given the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In FY20 students and employees were sent home to work/study in mid-March. In FY21, the majority of students and employees were remote. FY19 was the most representative year for reporting data.

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.