The 2015 iCAP, chapter 8, objective 1 is, "By the end of FY16, conduct a Request for Proposals process for verified carbon offsets — and undertake the first campus purchase of offsets." iSEE is developing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for purchasing carbon credits, aka carbon offsets.

iSEE is developing the technical specifications for a Request for Bids (RFB) for purchasing carbon credits, aka carbon offsets in FY17. These will be used both to replace the carbon credits sold from calendar year 2016, and as a starting inventory for the Virtual Storeroom.

During this process, iSEE will develop detailed specifications for carbon offsets to ensure that all purchased offsets are additional (in the sense that they enable reductions beyond business-as-usual), measurable, conservative (to ensure reductions are not overstated), permanent, independently verified, trackable, and transparent. The 2015 iCAP intended to have an RFP done by the end of FY16, and the current schedule will have the purchase completed by the end of FY17.

Background

Because campus sells carbon credits through the Carbon Credit Purchasing Program (C2P2) at Second Nature, we need to replace those boutique carbon credits with carbon offsets.  By the end of FY17, we will buy 103,000 carbon offsets (equivalent to 103,000 tons of greenhouse gasses not being released into the atmosphere) to replace those sold from calendar year 2016.

Additionally, in the same RFB, we will purchase 10,000 additional carbon offsets which will be used to set up a new virtual storeroom to allow campus units to voluntarily offset their carbon emissions, for example from air travel to scholarly meetings.

F&S Policy on the purchase of paper states that, "When purchasing paper for copiers and printers, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified products with a minimum of 30 percent recycled content must be selected."

Attached is the policy document.

Sarthak Prasad and Daphne Hulse attended an in-person TEACH AD workshop at the Healthy Lifestyle Hub in Chicago to learn about the anaerobic digesters installed at Green Era Campus in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood.

by: Noah Nelson

Posted: May 6, 2023 / 02:00 PM CDT

Updated: May 10, 2023 / 06:13 PM CDT

CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — U of I Facilities and Services (F&S) announced that the 21st annual Dump and Run event is expanding to multiple campus locations this year beginning Monday, May 8.

The U of I said the Dump and Run event, a collaboration between University Housing and U of I F&S, is designed to achieve campus sustainability goals, including reaching zero waste targets and preventing trash from reaching waterways and landscapes.

Officials said in past years when the event was hosted at the University YMCA, more than 30 tons of material was recycled and kept from reaching the landfill because of these efforts.

U of I officials said expanding the Dump and Run event this year makes it easier for students and others to donate unwanted items at the end of the semester. They said eight 20’ x 8’ mobile storage units will be placed near campus residence halls for the event, including:

• Barton Hall/Flagg Hall/Weston Hall/Student Dining and Residential Programs Building
• Busey Hall/Evans Hall
• Florida Avenue Residence Halls (Oglesby Hall)/Pennsylvania Avenue Residence Halls
• Hopkins Hall
• Illinois Street Residence Halls (Wardall Hall)
• Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls (Allen Hall)
• Nugent Hall/Wassaja Hall
• Taft Hall/Van Doren Hall/Snyder Hall

University volunteers will be available at the sites to help prevent overflow and ensure additional pickups as necessary.

“We’re excited to bring the Dump and Run event right to where the students live and closer to the majority of faculty and staff,” said Daphne Hulse, F&S zero waste coordinator. “This setup offers everyone a simple way to give back to local nonprofits while preventing littering and keeping items that can be reclaimed from reaching the landfill unnecessarily.

Each day, the containers will be opened at specific times to accept donations. Officials said individuals can donate surplus or gently used items by putting them into bulk boxes inside the containers. Accepted items include:

• Accessories (handbags, belts, scarves, hats, etc.)
• Appliances – small to medium size (coffee makers, kettles, mini-fridges, microwaves, etc.)
• Books
• Collectibles/antiques
• Computers and equipment (printers, cables, speakers, hard drives, monitors, etc.)
• Clothing (rips and tears are okay – but must be washed)
• Electronics
• Furniture
• Housewares (dishes, mirrors, decorative accessories, etc.)
• Jewelry
• Linens
• Lamps
• Multimedia (DVDs, CDs, records, etc.)
• Shoes
• TVs (flat screen only)

Throughout the week, officials said the donations will be collected by local participating charities Salt & Light and Goodwill.

“We are pleased to continue to support the Dump and Run initiative, which is a benefit to our residents, the campus, and the local community,” said Alma R. Sealine, executive director of University Housing.

The donation schedule includes:

• May 8: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
• May 9: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
• May 10: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
• May 11: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• May 12: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
• May 13: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

U of I students and staff can donate accepted items in one of the available mobile storage units during open hours until Saturday, May 13.

Greetings Carbon Offsets Workshop Attendees, and those looking to stay engaged with us!,

Thank you so much for your participation at our workshop on Tuesday April 18th 3-4pm EST, and thank you as well to those who couldn’t attend but are looking to follow-up on the information we shared. We are grateful for the variety of perspectives represented in the meeting space, and the questions and comments we were able to address in the time we had. Moving forward, we’re looking to get your feedback on if there is a collective appetite for diving further into this topic, and what resources are still needed. 

Please feel free again to email Meredith directly with your questions and to get involved directly with our Carbon Offsets Network, C2P2 Initiative, and advisory council....

For those of you looking to gain support with your climate action and resilience work in the southeast...

Please visit this link to share your thoughts and feedback on this workshop by Friday April 28th. Please see links to resources included in the survey.

View Meredith Leigh’s presentation linked here. 

View our recorded zoom meeting video here. 

See below our Q&A of questions and comments institutions and attendees had:

Q&A with Meredith Leigh:

Sandra Van Travis, Morehouse College’s Environmental Health and Safety Officer asks:

Please send information on how to calculate offsets using trees.

Campuses have hired arborists to determine sample areas and measure trees. These measurements require tree height, diameter at breast height, and species identification. Arborists are positioned to do this work. 

If hiring an arborist is not possible, new remote sensing technology providers offer phone apps that can be used by students or faculty to calculate tree data and categorize by species. One company in particular is interested in partnering with HEIs. If you are interested in connecting with this company, email Meredith. 

Christina Kwauk Asks:

I am curious if any of the members of the working group are familiar with carbon offsets that go toward non-mitigation activities but rather to climate adaptation activities that may benefit climate resilience outcomes of environmental justice communities (i.e. instead of carbon removed, what about respiratory illnesses averted/reduced?). This may be totally out of scope for carbon offsets and this workshop, but I wanted to join to listen for these connections today. 

This is a great question and a badly needed type of offset! Right now these kinds of values are considered “co-benefits” of carbon offsets, and people don’t put a dollar value on them like they do on MTCDE reductions, but offset projects are more attractive to buyers when they list these kinds of co-benefits. Campus participation in the Offset Network is a great way to develop projects uniquely suited to your campus, especially when your goals are to serve co-benefits and you have less pressure to just produce quantifiable offsets. An example of this is Clarkson ISE’s recently avoided forest conversion project through the Offset Network. Their main goals were to create student involvement in forest inventory and carbon project development, and to protect a piece of land and the endangered species of turtle that lives on it. The offsets generated from the project are small, and will count toward Clarkson’s Scope 3 emissions, but the co-benefits were what really made the project worthwhile for them. 

Dr. Maria Boccalandro asks:

If you are in a community college setting where you work with tax payer’s money how do you justify buying these credits? I think narrative matters... are there any best practices for community colleges you can share?

A great question, and one that Second Nature is still working on as we diversify the institutions we support. I think the key to this is transparency- communicating to stakeholders both the intentions of the offset purchase and its impact. To this end, it would be advisable to make space for community input when the school develops its offsets strategy. This way taxpayers can provide feedback on whether they see value in the college purchasing offsets as a way of becoming climate neutral, and if so, what types of projects would feel valuable to them. Furthermore I think engagement in the Offset Network, where faculty and students can create local projects with high co-benefits would be a good fit for community colleges. The projects can be designed for community involvement and high community co-benefits so that the expense of engaging is co-owned and the positive impacts are felt beyond campus. 

Thank you all again, and we look forward to reviewing your feedback!,

Blythe Coleman-Mumford (she/her/hers)

-----------------------------------

Hi Morgan, Madhu, and Elizabeth –

Given that we have been discussing offsets and Second Nature’s role, I thought you might find the slides linked below (Meredith Leigh’s presentation, highlighted) of interest. They provide an overview of the topic of offsets and several examples of what various HEIs are doing in this space.

Notably, slides 10-11 indicate that C sequestered in trees can be removed from total campus emissions as a “sink” in SIMAP. As you know, sinks are not the same as offsets because they do not require additionality. We know C sequestration for Trelease Woods and have the data to determine C sequestered by campus trees. So I think we should consider listing them as sinks. We could also consider other campus lands where land use/land cover might support C sequestration (cover cropping?).

Based on the public SIMAP report (here), we have reported 0 sinks/non-additional sequestration in the past. When will we complete the next SIMAP report?

Thanks,

Jen

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Thanks for sharing this Jen. This is helpful to have. I will look over the slides. Can you also send me the write up by Warren Lavey.

We should plan on discussing this at our next CS team meeting unless there is urgency to discuss it sooner

Best

Madhu

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Hi Madhu,

It is not urgent; we can discuss at the next CS team meeting.

The Resilience Team will be discussing the offset policy letter at today’s meeting. I will share once it is finalized. The law student working with Warren presented her findings about the MOU and paths forward at the April meeting. Notes can be found here:

https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project-update/resilience-icap-team-april-meeting

Jen

Presentations given during the lunch sessions for each grade in the library. Franklin STEAM hosts sustainability speakers each April in honor of Earth Month.

Thanks so much for coming!!!

We really appreciate your time and energy today speaking to Franklin's future "world rescuers."

I know you cannot attend our Open House this May 11th but do consider if you would like to table at our fall Open House on September 14th.

We really appreciated your clear and important messages.

Zanne Newman

Magnet Site Coordinator

Franklin STEAM Academy