Hi All,

The iSEE advisory committee and Sustainability Subcouncil will meet on November 27. I would like to get a first draft of the slides done by Friday, November 17 so Madhu has time to review it before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Advisory slides on Box: https://uofi.box.com/s/m380tqilie5s4503svndmoot1hbxnftx

I have put update assignments in the notes section of the slides, but will also list them here:

Heidi-slides 6,7 (if there is something exciting), 9,11 (Proposal metrics, new proposals submitted, Sust Trans update) Should we add Kyushu in here?

Luis-slides 13, 14 (Critical Conv and Sloan Workshop)

Eric-slides 15-20 (ELP and Gen Ed. Add a slide about the ESG certificate)

Jen/Miriam-slides 22-30 (Waste reduction efforts/DIA engagement and Carbon Credit accounting)

Subcouncil slides: https://uofi.box.com/s/241ttyx8bfceor6hzvoqp0c577lykpzx

Jen and Miriam—pull the slides about waste reduction and carbon credits over to this talk also. Make a slide on the Green research (there is a placeholder)

Eric-pull the Gen Ed slides over to this talk and replace the previous version.

Thanks,

Elizabeth

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Hi Elizabeth,

I have compiled all the draft subcouncil slides into this version: https://uofi.app.box.com/file/1361429522139

Please let me know if you have any questions or changes.

Best,

Miriam

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Hi all,

Please use the version:

Sustainability SubCouncil Nov 2023_11.17.2023_new.pptx

https://uofi.box.com/s/cbg4t8nr73ib38sr23i7n8k32uo82lwf

Thanks,

Jen

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Hi All

Thanks for putting these slides together in a timely manner. I have a few comments and suggestions below

Miriam/Tony

A few formatting edits are needed to improve the look and readability of the slides

1. Remove the top header which says education or campus sustainability on each slide since it is redundant to have it on each slide
2. Instead make the content oriented header which is on the next line the top header and in larger font.
3. Please change font to be at least 20 or more everywhere
4. Add a section break for each change in topic – is this current section header following our latest template? If not would be good to have that.
5. Miriam - Send me the numbers underlying the graphs for carbon credits that you have created
6. Miriam – any idea on how our decision to sell or not would affect our AASHE gold star rating?

All- take a look at the two slides I have added at the end and see if you agree.

We have three choices for our recommendation on carbon credits –

stop sales completely

or follow the Ball state example and say that we will stop sales after we reach carbon neutrality, sell our credits in the meantime and not claim any environmental benefit from these reductions in the meantime,

or only sell to entities that are willing to retire these credits and not claim it to achieve their own carbon reduction goals.

Thoughts? We can keep it open for now and solicit ideas from the council.

If I could have these back by Wednesday then I can go over again and have a final version ready for Elizabeth to send to the Council by Saturday. 

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Madhu

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Hi Madhu,

Regarding the last slide: Second Nature confirmed at the end of October that we have 10,264 remaining unsold carbon credits. These credits are vintage year 2018, and we haven’t verified any credits beyond 2018. I’m not sure if we can estimate total potential credits if we achieve carbon neutrality as I’ve been told the calculation used is quite complicated, but I’ve reached out to Second Nature to ask if there is any guidance to come up with a rough estimate. Another consideration is how we plan to reach carbon neutrality, and the feasibility of achieving carbon neutrality through emissions reductions alone. It looks like most schools plan to achieve carbon neutrality by buying some offsets.

Please see my responses to your other questions below in blue:

1. Miriam - Send me the numbers underlying the graphs for carbon credits that you have created

The graphs were generated on SIMAP. The attached spreadsheet includes the underlying data. I’ve also included a screen grab below that lays out the numbers clearly.

1. Miriam – any idea on how our decision to sell or not would affect our AASHE gold star rating?

Institutions can earn up to 8 possible points for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the AASHE scoring system. UIUC received 3.15 out of 8 possible points in this category. Carbon credits sold or transferred are accounted for in our total score, so selling carbon credits could reduce the points we earn here. I looked at the report for Ball State, and found they achieved a Gold rating in 2023. Their score for Greenhouse Gas Emissions is also higher than ours at 4.5/8.0. This suggests there are ways to maintain a high score in this area while selling carbon credits.
Our most recent AASHE score is 73.25, and the range for Gold is 65-85, so I do not expect that selling carbon credits would have a strong enough impact on our score to alter our overall Gold rating.

Thanks and please let me know if you have any other questions!

Best,

Miriam

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Hi Morgan,

The data from the carbon emissions charts in the subcouncil slides is attached here.

-Miriam