University of Montana
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.29 / 3.00 |
Eva
Rocke Sustainability Director Office of Sustainability |
Part 1. Greenhouse gas emissions inventory
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:
As in 2020, UM chose to use the online SIMAP tool for our GHG inventory. We also enlisted the help of a former UM student who has started his own business as a climate and sustainability consultant. For this project with UM, the consultant enlisted the additional support of a UM grad student in the Master's in Information Systems. All of the data collected and entered into SIMAP was collected, cleaned, and managed by them.
Scope 1 emissions continues to include all emissions from UM Mountain Campus, Missoula College, and the south campus properties, as well as from "satellite" properties like Lubrecht Experimental Forest, Bandy Ranch, and the Flathead Biological Station.
Scope 2 emissions also include Main Campus, Missoula College, and all of the satellite properties listed above.
Scope 3 emissions historically has included two emissions sources: direct commuting by students and employees as well as university-financed air travel and buses for athletics. We continued to include those emissions sources in our 2021-2023 inventory. Our commuter data comes from our fall 2021 commuter survey. We plan to conduct our next commuter survey in fall 2024.
The other major thing to note about our GHG inventory this year is that, in line with guidance from the GHG protocols, we decided to no longer use the eGrid emissions factors but to plug in emissions factors shared with us by our utility provider, NorthWestern Energy. In our GHG inventories before 2018, we used the eGrid emissions factor, so in order to make our 2020 numbers comparable across a greater number of historical reports, we updated the emissions factors back through FY16 to be NorthWestern Energy-specific emissions factors. We plan to continue using this method in future reports as well.
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:
Sam Gilbertson, UM alum and independent sustainability consultant (Renewably) completed our FY21-23 inventory for us, with guidance and input from the Office of Sustainability. Sam had the additional support of a grad student in the College of Business MIS program.
Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
Scope 1 GHG emissions
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Stationary combustion | 14,862.93 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) | 79.96 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
Scope 2 GHG emissions
| Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Imported electricity | 18,894.09 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Imported thermal energy | 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:
GHG emissions from biomass combustion
Scope 3 GHG emissions
| Yes or No | Weight in MTCO2e | |
| Business travel | Yes | 12,440.15 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Commuting | Yes | 3,586.50 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| 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 | Yes | 1,377.86 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
| Other sources | Yes | 1.72 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent |
Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
UM conducts a commuter survey every 3 years. The most recent survey was administered in fall 2021. The consultant who did the analysis took data collected from the survey and plugged it into the SIMAP tool. We also collected bus travel and air travel data from our Athletics program. For now (and historically), this has just been dollars spent that we then convert to miles. For business air travel by UM employees, we obtain purchase records from Business Services and do a similar dollar to miles conversion. We are sure to remove baggage fees from the records we use. The conversion is done using the mileage based on passenger yield from the ATA.
Part 2. Air pollutant emissions inventory
Annual weight of emissions for::
| Weight of Emissions | |
| Nitrogen oxides (NOx) | --- |
| Sulfur oxides (SOx) | --- |
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | --- |
| Particulate matter (PM) | --- |
| Ozone (O3) | --- |
| Lead (Pb) | --- |
| Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) | --- |
| Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) | --- |
| Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations | --- |
Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:
| Yes or No | |
| Major stationary sources | --- |
| Area sources | --- |
| Mobile sources | --- |
| Commuting | --- |
| Off-site electricity production | --- |
Optional Fields
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 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.