Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	83.87
Liaison	Yolanda Cieters
Submission Date	March 1, 2024

STARS v2.2

Seattle University
OP-2: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	8.00 / 8.00	Yolanda Cieters Associate Director CEJS

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions

Gross GHG emissions

Gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion	3,005.91 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	3,446.21 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources	75.16 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	126.69 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	3,081.07 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	4,597.33 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Carbon sinks

Figures needed to determine net carbon sinks:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased	3,100 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	39.07 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	20.16 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	3,139.07 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	142.16 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

If total performance year carbon sinks are greater than zero, provide:

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 FY2009): no FY09 offset data could be retrieved.

--Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased (performance year FY2023): Verra verified carbon offsets to compensate for Scope 1 emissions. Scope 1 emission compensation through offset purchasing is a commitment by Seattle university since FY2021.

Adjusted net GHG emissions

Adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Adjusted net GHG emissions	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	4,455.17 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Performance and baseline periods

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Performance year	Baseline year
Start date	July 1, 2022	July 1, 2008
End date	June 30, 2023	June 30, 2009

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

SU started collecting GHG data in 2007. Over the following years, SU developed processes and identified emissions that were missing. Fiscal year 2009 was the year SU 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.

Part 1. Reduction in GHG emissions per person

Weighted campus users

Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Number of students resident on-site	1,719	1,845
Number of employees resident on-site	35	32
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	6,744	6,520
Full-time equivalent of employees	1,358	1,224
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	192.60	0
Weighted Campus Users	6,370.55	6,277.25

Metrics used in scoring for Part 1

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 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:

100

Part 2. GHG emissions per unit of floor area

Performance year floor area

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:

2,210,938 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:

	Floor area
Laboratory space	64,226.06 Square feet
Healthcare space	0 Square feet
Other energy intensive space	62,901.63 Square feet

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:

2,402,291.75 Gross square feet

Metric used in scoring for Part 2

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

0 MtCO2e per square foot

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

See: https://www.seattleu.edu/climate/#footprint

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

https://www.seattleu.edu/climate/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

--Reporting year for this credit: FY23

--Note that the gross floor area of building space (performance year FY23) in OP2 is different from PRE-4 (data is for FY23 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.
SU’s Institutional boundary total is 2,310,148. (= 2,296,459 owned + 13,689 for one leased building (YOBI building)
SU’s Operational boundary total is 2,210,938 (This includes only those buildings where SU has ownership/control of maintenance/building operations).

--Note that for student residents, we adjusted our numbers for the performance year: the number of students resident on-site in FY23 was 2,283.0. 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 564 students from the total number of student residents; that is the combined capacity of the three residence halls that SU leases (Douglas, Vi Hilbert, and Yobi) 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 (86%), nuclear (5%), wind (5%) 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 STARS credit OP 1 “Emissions Inventory and Disclosure”) 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, 2018, and 2021 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.