Overview forMason Climate Action Plan

February 16, 2009

Lenna Storm, Dann Sklarew, and Rob Johnson

CAP website:

http://masoncap.wikispaces.com

Session Overview

• LENNA previews our session here

• CPC as seed, from today forward YOU are the CAP Team! (note students in class here too?)

ACUPCC

• American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC):

• recognize the need to reduce the global emission of greenhouse gases by 80% by mid-century at the latest,

• we believe that there will be great short-, medium-, and long-term economic, health, social and environmental benefits, including achieving energy independence for the U.S. as quickly as possible.

• http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/

ACUPCC

Recommended Approach

1. Develop comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as

possible.

2. Implement institutional structure to achieve

3. Complete GHG Inventory (Feb’09)

4. Develop Climate Action Plan (CAP) to achieve climate neutrality (Sep’09).

Mason CAP Timeline to Date

• Sep’07 - President Merten signed ACUPCC• Oct’07 – Lenna Storm hired as Sustainability Coordinator and GMU

Sustainability Office created• Jan’08 – Feb’09 – Sustainability Office prepared Greenhouse Gas

Inventory (GHGI) for years FY02 – FY07, formed CAP Core Planning Committee.

• Jan’09 – May’09 – Mason “Climate Action Planning and Energy Strategies” (CAPES) course launched and delivered by ESP Dept., to facilitate CAP development and learning.

• Feb 17, 2009 – Climate Action Planning Team launched at CAP Kickoff!

Dann could start on either of next 2 slides

• Please tell him which in notes section below!

Climate Action Planning TeamAim:

Draft George Mason University's first Climate Action Plan (CAP)

for approval by GMU President Alan Merten in September 2009

and implementation ASAP thereafter.

What is a CAP?

Vision

Achieve climate neutrality,

“no net GHG emissions,” by minimizing

GHG emissions, and using carbon offsets

or other measures to mitigate

the remaining emissions.

How to do a CAP?

Identify, evaluate and characterize:

a) Target dateb) Interim targets for goals and actions leading to

climate neutralityc) Actions to integrate climate neutrality and

sustainability into the curriculum and other student experiencesd) Actions to expand research or other efforts necessary to achieve climate

neutralitye) Mechanisms for tracking progress on goals and actions

(Then revise CAP biennially with inputs from regularly updated GHGI.)

Mason CAP Timeline to Delivery

• Feb 17, 2009 – Launch Climate Action Planning Team at CAP Kickoff

• End of February – Task 1: Define technical, policy, or process problems that are potential sources of emissions.

• Mid-March – Task 2: Define potential emissions reduction solutions within three major categories (technical, policy, process/behavioral).

• April-May –Task 3: Develop strategic options for timelines to achieve neutrality target, including carbon offset strategy.

• April-May – Task 4: Analysis and prioritization of solutions.

• Mid-May – Task 5: Draft CAP [… refine over summer to deliver in Sept.]

GMU Greenhouse Gas Inventory

ROB’s SLIDES HERE

• Yada yada cupcake cupcake…