Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 79.39
Liaison Yolanda Cieters
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

Seattle University
OP-2: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 5.07 / 8.00 Yolanda Cieters
Associate Director
CEJS
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:
Performance year Baseline year
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion 3,046.04 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 3,446.21 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources 151.43 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 126.79 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported electricity 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 1,024.43 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Total 3,197.47 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 4,597.43 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Figures needed to determine net carbon sinks:
Performance year Baseline year
Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 122 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Institution-catalyzed carbon offsets generated 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from on-site composting 21.49 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from non-additional sequestration 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon sold or transferred 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Net carbon sinks 21.49 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 122 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of the carbon sinks, including vendor, project source, verification program and contract timeframes (as applicable):

Carbon storage from on-site composting (performance year): Seattle University collects pre-consumer food and yard waste and converts it into compost on campus. Pre-consumer food waste is sorted and collected from kitchens and cafes on campus, then mixed with woodchips provided by the campus grounds staff. A facilities compost technician and a team of students then mix the materials and place them in a small aerated-static-pile composting facility on campus where they are converted into a safe compost-mulch that is used by the grounds staff on gardens and plant beds across campus.

Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased (baseline year): no FY09 offset data could be retrieved.


Adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions:
Performance year Baseline year
Adjusted net GHG emissions 3,175.98 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 4,475.43 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Performance year Baseline year
Start date July 1, 2018 July 1, 2008
End date June 30, 2019 June 30, 2009

A brief description of when and why the GHG emissions baseline was adopted:

SU started collecting GHG data in 2005. Over the following three years, SU developed processes and identified emissions that we were missing. Fiscal year 2009 was the year we had data with confidence. In 2010, SU's Climate Action Plan was approved to implement the requirements of signing the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. FY09 has been adopted as our baseline for GHG emissions.


Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”:
Performance year Baseline year
Number of students resident on-site 2,148 1,845
Number of employees resident on-site 42 32
Number of other individuals resident on-site 0 0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment 6,937 6,520
Full-time equivalent of employees 1,328 1,224
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education 54 0
Weighted Campus Users 6,705.75 6,277.25

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user:
Performance year Baseline year
Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user 0.47 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent 0.71 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Percentage reduction in adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user from baseline:
33.57

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:
2,151,355 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:
Floor area
Laboratory space 59,106.24 Square feet
Healthcare space 0 Square feet
Other energy intensive space 59,608.37 Square feet

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
2,329,175.85 Gross square feet

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:
0.00 MtCO2e per square foot

A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives:
---

Website URL where information about the institution's GHG emissions is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

--Reporting year for this credit: FY19

--Note that the gross floor area of building space (performance year FY19) in OP2 is different from PRE-4 (data is for FY19 too).
The PRE-4 credit GSF is SU's institutional boundary GSF whereas in OP2 we report on SU's operational boundary, that is, excluding leased buildings because we do not receive any utilities-related data for those buildings (that is entirely managed by another company) nor do we control changes or improvements related to the leased buildings' utilities.

--Note that for student residents, we adjusted our numbers for the performance year: the number of students resident on-site in FY19 was 2,448.0. But because the GHG data we report in this credit OP2 only pertains to buildings that we own and manage (operational boundary; excluding any leased buildings), we subtracted 300 students from the total number of student residents (that is the combined capacity of two residence halls that SU leases and for which we do not report any GHG data in this credit OP2).

The baseline year numbers for student residents are not changed because the two residence halls were not in use before FY10.

--NOTE ABOUT SCOPE 2 - GHG EMISSIONS FROM ELECTRICITY: We are reporting zero for electricity because our electricity provider, Seattle City Light is a carbon neutral utility. In 2005, SCL became the first electric utility in the country to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions. Most of its power supply portfolio includes hydropower (84%), nuclear (5%), wind (4%) and biogas (1%). Any emissions associated with unspecified market purchases are offset through their greenhouse gas neutrality policy. Also, SIMAP did a third-party verification of our GHG emissions inventory (see "Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process" in PART 1 of this credit) and confirmed that we can claim “0” emissions for electricity as we have been doing since our FY09 baseline for our GHG inventories as well as for our 2016 and 2018 STARS reports.


--Reporting year for this credit: FY19

--Note that the gross floor area of building space (performance year FY19) in OP2 is different from PRE-4 (data is for FY19 too).
The PRE-4 credit GSF is SU's institutional boundary GSF whereas in OP2 we report on SU's operational boundary, that is, excluding leased buildings because we do not receive any utilities-related data for those buildings (that is entirely managed by another company) nor do we control changes or improvements related to the leased buildings' utilities.

--Note that for student residents, we adjusted our numbers for the performance year: the number of students resident on-site in FY19 was 2,448.0. But because the GHG data we report in this credit OP2 only pertains to buildings that we own and manage (operational boundary; excluding any leased buildings), we subtracted 300 students from the total number of student residents (that is the combined capacity of two residence halls that SU leases and for which we do not report any GHG data in this credit OP2).

The baseline year numbers for student residents are not changed because the two residence halls were not in use before FY10.

--NOTE ABOUT SCOPE 2 - GHG EMISSIONS FROM ELECTRICITY: We are reporting zero for electricity because our electricity provider, Seattle City Light is a carbon neutral utility. In 2005, SCL became the first electric utility in the country to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions. Most of its power supply portfolio includes hydropower (84%), nuclear (5%), wind (4%) and biogas (1%). Any emissions associated with unspecified market purchases are offset through their greenhouse gas neutrality policy. Also, SIMAP did a third-party verification of our GHG emissions inventory (see "Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process" in PART 1 of this credit) and confirmed that we can claim “0” emissions for electricity as we have been doing since our FY09 baseline for our GHG inventories as well as for our 2016 and 2018 STARS reports.

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.