College President Alison Byerly shared a draft of a proposed new Framework for Sustainability, Climate Action, and Environmental Justice with the school community on September 19. The document marks a departure from the most recent communication on the college’s sustainability plan in 2023, and outlines Carleton’s changed priorities while reaffirming some long-term goals.
Most notably, with the proposed framework, Carleton would no longer aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. In a message to the school community, President Byerly described this shift as “an evolution in our thinking about carbon neutrality as a goal” that aligns with the sentiments of “[m]any leaders in climate action.”
Carleton’s climate policies have previously focused on the goal of carbon neutrality. In 2011, Carleton adopted the Climate Action Plan which, among other things, emphasized reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. In 2023, more aggressive sustainability goals were outlined in the Carleton 2033: The Liberal Arts in Action plan, moving the college’s net carbon neutrality timeline to 2025.
During the process of adopting the 2023 plan, members of the Sustainability Working Group who had helped shape the plan began raising concerns about one of the main strategies for achieving the carbon neutrality goal: carbon offsets. Carbon offsets are a method of lowering an organization’s net carbon emissions by investing in programs that promise to offset the donor organization’s carbon emissions. These donations count as negative emissions for an organization’s net emission output. During the later stages of drafting Carleton’s 2023 climate goals, an investigation by the Guardian revealed that more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by the biggest certifier were worthless, drawing attention to offsets’ often ineffective nature.
“We were thinking, with all that money, why are we going to invest in something that doesn’t seem to be very sustainably robust? Instead, take that money and put it towards efforts that are community-based and are often underfunded, and that are actually going to increase our sustainability and the sustainability of our community,” said Eli Watt ’25, a student member of the Sustainability Working Group.
Despite the concerns, the 2023 goals were passed as were. However, in the past year, challenges to the goal of net carbon neutrality through offsets have been more thoroughly considered by President Byerly and other community stakeholders.
The newly drafted sustainability framework released last Thursday reflects the impact of these conversations, moving away from the carbon neutrality emphasis and instead focusing resources on involving students in community projects.
“Should we just keep buying more offsets?” Director of Sustainability Dr. Sarah Fortner asked. “Is that the strategy? Really buying our way out of it?… In higher education and at colleges, it seems really crucial that we support students and think beyond what happens here…it’s what our students do and how we connect and service our communities.”
In an interview with the Carletonian, President Allison Byerly highlighted the tangible nature of the new framework, emphasizing what she saw as its main strength. “I admire that the framework is focused on collective action,” said Byerly. “It’s focused on real change. Our focus isn’t just purchasing more carbon offsets as a way to achieve our goals, it’s a commitment to change.”
The revised framework document emphasizes creating a more intersectional approach to sustainability at Carleton by engaging more communities within and around Carleton. Specifically mentioned are initiatives to introduce sustainability curricula across disciplines, create an annual Climate Action and Justice Week, and involve nearby indigenous nations in decisions about climate action.
“The shift now, as we see into the future, is thinking about more of the role for equity and justice and how to infuse opportunities or make connections when we address the climate crisis from multiple disciplines,” Dr. Fortner said.
Alongside these priorities, the new framework reaffirmed and expanded on goals from previous sustainability plans. The document repeats the intention to establish a Sustainable Futures Fund, mentioned in the Carleton 2033 plan last year, as well as transparency through data collection and regular community discussion.
Rob Hanson, manager of campus energy, was a part of the Sustainability Working Group that helped draft the framework document. He helped inform the new document’s goals that intend to address energy consumption on campus. The framework mentions green building design, greener transportation options, conducting a feasibility study to electrify campus and connecting renewable electricity from the 2004 Vestas wind turbine directly to the Carleton electric grid, which could account for 20% of the school’s annual electricity use.
“We want something that is achievable but challenging, and also making sure we write [the new energy goals] in a manner [so] that we don’t pigeonhole ourselves in anything. Because things are going to happen, stuff will change, prices will go up, some prices will go down… all sorts of things. We want to be as flexible as we can while still meeting the practical overall goal of getting off gas and greening our electricity,” Hanson said.
This sentiment shows throughout the document. There are actionable projects suggested in the draft, but many of the stated goals are unspecific about actual steps; the framework promises to “support learning” from local indigenous populations or “support campus culture and community-building for sustainability” without any information on how these intentions will be realized.
“I wanted to see more concrete specifics, like a physical space on campus specifically for students of color interested in the environment… it would have been nice if we weren’t just like ‘we’re going to support these causes on campus’ and instead gave concrete, specific examples,” Watt said. “I heard that this wasn’t the place to do it. That’s more of a next step.”
The Framework for Sustainability, Climate Action, and Environmental Justice draft will be considered for the Board’s approval in October.