Columbia University sustained its commitment to 100% renewable electricity in 2023 for its campus facilities at Morningside, Nevis, Baker, Manhattanville, the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, and the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Since 2018, Columbia University has voluntarily addressed its Scope 2 GHG emissions from Purchased Electricity with the use of environmental attributes from renewable energy and carbon offsetting projects.
Columbia purchased a total of 100,603 voluntary carbon credits (VCCs) from the below projects to address 100% of all the referenced campus Scope 2 electricity emissions. In addition, Columbia continued its ongoing procurement of zero emissions electricity from hydroelectric projects administered by the New York Power Authority, and investments in two local New York solar projects that provide half the annual campus electricity required by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
The carbon credits procured and retired on Columbia’s behalf that offset the University’s 2023 Purchased Electricity emissions were sourced from two projects registered in the American Climate Registry. The projects, A-Gas V11 (ACR 869) and A-Gas V12 (ACR 827) are located in Rhome, Texas and Bowling Green, Ohio, respectively. Both projects avoid GHG emissions by preventing the release of used refrigerants into the atmosphere and by reclaiming and reusing them in air conditioning equipment. The recovery and repurposing of used hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) also reduces the need for new refrigerant production.
“As these carbon credits supplement Columbia’s other clean energy and greenhouse gas mitigation efforts laid out in Plan 2030, the University continues to meet its commitments,” said Jessica Prata, Assistant Vice President for the Office of Sustainability. “The University is on a pathway to achieve net zero emissions for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2050 or sooner, as outlined in the plan.”
Columbia’s Plan 2030 Campus Energy goal articulates the University’s commitment to electrification and 100% renewable electricity. Columbia’s strategy is to transition as rapidly as is practical from brown power paired with environmental attributes to zero-emission electricity sources on the New York grid. In the interim, Columbia will invest in campus electrification and utilize market environmental attributes as necessary.
Plan 2030 also set Columbia on the GHG reduction trajectory determined by science as necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. In setting science-based targets for the University, Columbia utilized guidance from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). Columbia’s consistent historical application of environmental attributes from renewable electricity to address Scope 2 Purchased Electricity, and its commitment to persist with that practice as long as necessary, plays a key role in reaching Columbia’s science-based targets and keeping cumulative GHG emissions within Columbia’s carbon budget.
