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CLIMATE ACTION PLAN
CLIMATE ACTION PLAN
ISU
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Introduction
Climate change is very real. It has already begun to alter both our environment and our lives. While
the full implications are not fully understood, accelerated changes have occurred, and these changes
have the potential to cause devastating impacts on all productive sectors and livelihoods. Scientific
evidence suggests that climate change is a causal factor in rising sea levels, increased occurrence of
severe weather events, food shortages, changing patterns of disease, severe water shortages and the
loss of tropical forests. Most experts agree that over the next few decades, the world will undergo
potentially dangerous changes in climate, which will have a significant impact on almost every
aspect of our environment, economies and societies.
Consequently, there is great need for the federal government to make fundamental shifts in its
energy policy and to align its vast research and development resources with climate protection.
Recently, the United States federal government has taken action in addressing the issue of climate
change. In June 2013, President Obama first launched a Climate Action Plan for the nation.
Additionally, in November 2013, he signed an order to create a climate change task force comprised
of state and local officials, including Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.
Further, universities play a unique role within the field of climate change because they focus their
educational mission on research and intellectual leadership in society, which makes them an ideal
setting for modeling the transition to a low-carbon future. As an institution of higher education,
Illinois State University (ISU) is serious in taking on its responsibility to help solve national and global
problems. Therefore, the creation and the implementation of a climate action plan would mark the
next milestone in ISU’s commitment to climate change and subsequently, contributing to solving both
a national and global problem.
Illinois State University’s Climate Action Plan
Since 2010, the university has been reporting and evaluating its greenhouse gas emissions. The
Climate Action Plan (CAP) provides a roadmap and strategy for achieving carbon neutrality. The CAP
calls for the university to reduce its on-site carbon emissions from its buildings, transportation, and
energy use. Additionally, the CAP outlines ways Illinois State University can provide climate change,
as well as broader curriculum and research in an interdisciplinary manner. Further, the plan
showcases how the university can use communications resources in providing transparency,
encouraging community participation, and celebrating progress upon reaching its goals.
In order to determine the best strategies for achieving a low-carbon future, Illinois State University
will form a Climate Task Force, comprised of faculty, staff, and students. This task force will be
instrumental in tailoring ISU’s commitment to climate chance and to reducing its carbon footprint.
The Task Force will first evaluate ISU’s existing initiatives and will then provide recommendations for
the university’s future sustainability efforts. They will subsequently lead their assigned
implementation teams in forming mitigation and adaptation strategies, which will be vetted by the
Sustainability Task Force.
The Office of Sustainability, in partnership with President Thomas Flanagan, will reach out to
members of the University community to invite participation in the Climate Task Force. The first
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focus will be to identify team leads for each of the implementation teams. After these individuals
are identified, the Office of Sustainability will work in partnership with the team leads to identify
others at ISU and within the greater Bloomington-Normal community who can help with the
evaluation and the implementation of the CAP options.
After the CAP is submitted, the university will continue to invest in the strategies outlined in the
document to ensure it meets its commitment. Further, the CAP will be a working document, which
the university will continue to periodically update.
Illinois State University’s ACUPCCs Commitment
In 2008, ISU joined the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC),
and both the creation and implementation of CAP are ways for ISU to honor and to measure their
commitment to ACUPCC. “The American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment is a
large-scale initiative to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to reduce
and ultimately neutralize greenhouse gas (GHG) or carbon emissions.” Carbon neutrality is defined
as having no net GHG emissions. In achieving carbon reductions, these institutions will advance the
research and knowledge that will equip society with the tools to re-stabilize the earth’s climate.
In joining ACUPCC, ISU joins over 660 other colleges and universities in committing to develop a
Climate Action Plan (CAP). With the signing of the ACUPCC, ISU has also committed to the following:
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A target date for achieving climate neutrality as soon as possible.
Interim targets for goals and actions that will lead to climate neutrality.
Actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other
educational experience for all students
Actions to expand research or other efforts necessary to achieve climate neutrality.
Mechanisms for tracking progress on goals and actions.
ISU’s Climate Action Plan is geared towards reducing GHG emissions, as well as highlighting and
supporting university academic endeavors. According to the Signatories of the American College and
University Presidents Climate commitment, “academia must exercise leadership in their communities
and throughout society by modeling ways to eliminate global warming emissions” “while integrating
sustainability into their curriculum to meet their social mandate to help create a thriving, ethical
and civil society.”
Conclusion
Through the creation and subsequent implementation of ISU’s Climate Action Plan, Illinois State
University takes a crucial step forward in asserting their role as a community leader in sustainability.
The realities of climate change showcase the necessity for ISU’s role in reducing GHG emissions, as
well as adapting strategies to take action in reducing the risks caused or exacerbated by climate
change. As a working document, the CAP will serve as an outline and basis for the University to
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leverage themselves as a model for other higher-education institutes, as well as a steward in
protecting the future of the community of Bloomington-Normal.