| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 61.60 |
| Liaison | Megan Curtis-Murphy |
| Submission Date | Feb. 28, 2023 |
Northeastern University
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.58 / 3.00 |
Jacob
Glickel Director of Sustainability Operations Climate Justice & Sustainability Hub |
Has the institution conducted a GHG emissions inventory within the previous three years that includes all Scope 1 and 2 emissions? :
A copy of the most recent GHG emissions inventory:
A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:
Northeastern University (NU) uses the University of New Hampshire's Sustainability Indicator Management and Analysis Platform (SIMAP) to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. Our institutional boundary includes buildings owned and/or fully managed buildings primarily on our Boston campus, but does include buildings located in our Boston-area satellite campuses in Burlington, Nahant, and Dedham, MA. We are not including any leased space on the Boston campus or at our 10 global locations. This inventory also does not include Mills College at Northeastern which merged with Northeastern in July 2022. We intend to include all leased properties including our global locations when that data becomes available in the coming years. Of note, about 2/3 of scope 1 emissions are from the central plant that produces low pressure steam for most of the Boston campus buildings.
We have uploaded calendar year 2005 through 2021 data into SIMAP. NU uses calendar year 2005 as the baseline year for all sustainability-metric data. We account for Scope 1 emissions of (1) stationary combustion of fossil fuels on campus, (2) transportation-related fossil fuel consumption, (3) Scope 2 emissions of purchases of electricity.
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?:
A brief description of the GHG inventory verification process:
Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Stationary combustion | 29,602 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) | 622 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year (market-based):
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Imported electricity | 25,582 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Imported thermal energy | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:
Gross GHG emissions from biogenic sources, performance year:
Does the GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from the following sources?:
| Yes or No | Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Business travel | No | --- |
| Commuting | No | --- |
| Purchased goods and services | No | --- |
| Capital goods | No | --- |
| Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 | No | --- |
| Waste generated in operations | No | --- |
| Other sources | No | --- |
Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
Has the institution completed an inventory within the previous three years to quantify its air pollutant emissions?:
Annual weight of emissions for::
| Weight of Emissions | |
| Nitrogen oxides (NOx) | 27.45 Tons |
| Sulfur oxides (SOx) | 0.27 Tons |
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | 21.03 Tons |
| Particulate matter (PM) | 0.52 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 | Yes |
| Mobile sources | No |
| Commuting | No |
| Off-site electricity production | No |
A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:
The air emissions are calculated through the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's Source Registration reporting requirement for Title V entities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The emissions are reported annually and include all stationary sources on the Boston campus, include the central steam plant.
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity (location-based):
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy (location-based) :
Website URL where information about the institution’s emissions inventories is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The greenhouse gas emissions inventory is for calendar year 2021 and does not include leased facilities or Mills College at Northeastern.
The greenhouse gas emissions inventory is for calendar year 2021 and does not include leased facilities or Mills College at Northeastern.
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.