University of Massachusetts Amherst
PAE-5: Climate Action Plan

The UMass Amherst Climate Action Plan 2.0 establishes a timeline and specific strategies to become climate neutral by 2050. In 2012, the UMass Amherst Sustainability Manager and the Chancellors Sustainability Committee published and released the "Climate Action Plan 2012 2.0: A Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality." This document identified carbon mitigation strategies (within a "wedge" format) that will help reduce overall campus emissions as the campus continues to physically grow at a historic rate. (See strategies below.)

The 2012 Climate Action Plan 2.0 document identifies both overall campus sustainability goals and strategies with metrics as well as specific mitigation strategies for meeting state and campus emission reduction targets and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 even during a time of historic growth. These specific mitigation strategies can be found within Overall Campus Goal 2 below. The overall campus sustainability goals are: Goal 1: EDUCATION/ENGAGEMENT: Integrate and expand sustainability into all aspects of the curriculum and campus life. Strategies include: -Extend sustainability learning outcome requirements to a majority of majors and degrees -Offer more sustainability focused and related academic courses. -Conduct assessments of sustainability literacy of all students focusing on knowledge of topics, not values or beliefs -Increase student engagement in residence halls and campus activities and increase faculty and staff engagement in classroom and administrative offices -Renew the ACUPCC: Reaffirm leadership and recommit the University to the goals within the commitment text -Restructure and grow EPAC to include members from University Relations, Budget office, -Student Affairs and Residence Life, Diversity Office, Alumni & Development, and Athletics -Place a spotlight on research that is contributing to a just and sustainable future; begin tracking the financial commitment to sustainability related research to highlight how it can potentially offset campus emissions Goal 2: ENERGY/EMISSIONS/BUILDINGS: Reduce overall energy usage and carbon emissions, convert to renewable energy sources, green existing buildings, and grow net-zero Strategies include: -Develop a campus renewable energy plan to produce electricity from 30% renewable energy sources by 2020 (EO484), ultimately reducing campus emissions by 25-30% -Develop a Reduce Your Use Campaign, including the piloting of innovative energy management technologies, reductions in individual energy consumption through student energy competitions and green office programs, reducing energy usage and campus emissions 5-10% by 2020 -Continuous commission existing buildings across campus to improve energy efficiency, yield an average of 16% energy costs per building, reduce energy usage and emissions 10-25% by 2020 -Develop campus wide sustainable development policy for carbon neutral growth, which recovers the costs of greening new and existing buildings through energy efficiency measures -Preserve the E+ Energy Efficiency Program by continuing to improve the project selection process and ultimately the effectiveness of the program Goal 3: FUNDING: Fund sustainability advancement through student fees, revolving loan funds, and external partnerships Strategies include: -Seek approval for a student green fee to help finance objectives 1 and 2 above by funding highly visible projects on campus chosen by students that improves the quality of campus life and increases the opportunities for hands-on learning for all students -Appoint a taskforce to report on the advantages and drawbacks of establishing a revolving loan fund (RLF) to finance our energy efficiency upgrades -Bring in sustainability funding through external partnerships and alumni support