State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

ESF completed a Middle States Self Study Report during Spring 2022. Selected text from that report is below. This Self Study Report references other critical sustainability planning documents, such as the 2020 Facilities Master Plan (FMP) and 2021 Clean Energy Master Plan (CEMP). These references are included below, as applicable.

A distilled sample list of measurable sustainability objectives included within the 2022 Self Study report, the Facilities Master Plan and Clean Energy Master Plan related to academics includes the following:

- Maintain ESF's role as a premier environmental college through retaining STARS Platinum status and using STARS as a sustainability roadmap (Self Study)
- Use sustainability as an overall guide for the College as it addresses facilities, infrastructure and technology needs so as to use campus as a "living lab" linking academic and physical operations (Self Study)
- As sustainability is central to ESF's academic and research programs, renovate building systems based upon recommendations in the Clean Energy Master Plan and use these renovations to create new opportunities for student and faculty engagement and collaboration. (Self Study)
- Collaborate across departments within ESF to enhance scholarship and visibility as an authoritative source on environmental stewardship and sustainability efforts nationally and internationally (Self Study)
- Allocate resources strategically to support sustainability efforts (Self Study)
- Integration in curriculum, research, and work force development programs (CEMP)
- Student/staff/faculty perception/feedback (CEMP)
- Create a new sustainability center (building) to support sustainability academics, research and outreach programs (FMP)

Selections from the 2022 Middle States Self Study:

Page 11:
Reflecting on the text of Vision 2020 and the Vision 2020 Update strategic planning documents, the survey data, and input from Executive Leadership, it became clear that our three most important institutional priorities cannot be realized without a commitment to three guiding principles:
1) Institutional commitment to inclusion, diversity and equity
2) Demonstrate financial responsibility
3) Maintain ESF’s role as a premier environmental college to engage in collaboration with external stakeholders and to enhance our visibility as an authoritative source on environmental stewardship and sustainability efforts nationally and globally.

Page 82:
Commitment to Sustainability Integrated with Comprehensive Planning
As articulated in the College’s most recent strategic plan, the Vision 2020 Update: Bridging from 2016 to 2020 and Beyond, sustainability is central to ESF’s mission...

In sum, sustainability is an overall guide for the College as it addresses facilities, infrastructure, and technology needs, and as it develops its priorities related to operational, critical maintenance, and capital investments...

It is essential for ESF to quantify its sustainability commitments and actions over time, and benchmark against other colleges and universities to stay informed and to lead with best practices. To do this, the College commits to an annual cycle of assessment, planning, and implementation, guided by the third-party verified, industry-standard for measuring campus sustainability: STARS—Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Educations (AASHE). In 2015, ESF committed to viewing STARS as its primary roadmap for sustainability, and incorporating STARS key performance indicators into its operations.

ESF recognizes that sustainability uniquely involves linking academic and physical operations of the institution for the purpose of mutually beneficial interactions. The College considering its facilities as “living laboratories” is one an example of this. The College continues to improve teaching and research by opening up and investing in operations, infrastructure, and processes, continuously improving the physical, financial, and social fabric of the College, based on the overall framework of sustainability.

Page 86:
Facilities Master Plan
Sustainability. Sustainability is central to academic, research, and community outreach programs.
A new sustainability center should be created to support these programs. As existing buildings are
renovated, building systems should be selected based on the recommendations in the Clean Energy
Master Plan under development. Special consideration should be given to reducing the institution’s
reliance on Syracuse University steam and becoming a net-zero-carbon campus.

Page 88:
ESF’s CEMP is a living document that provides a vision and pathway for transitioning to a low-carbon campus that showcases and benefits from a mix of proven clean energy technologies and operational strategies that increase energy independence and resilience. With a continued comprehensive approach to energy management, the College has the potential to reduce energy use, transition to a blend of renewable sources, and cut GHG emissions by 40% in the near term, and 80% or more over the long term. At the same time, these practices will continue to reduce utility costs and fossil fuel dependence, making the College more financially and operationally sustainable. The CEMP supports ESF’s expanding potential to serve as a clean energy leader for SUNY, NYS, and beyond, while creating new opportunities for student and faculty engagement and collaboration. The CEMP strengthens the foundation for a growing suite of clean energy tools and initiatives at ESF, leading the way toward the sustainable, zero-carbon institution of the future.

Page 106:
ESF is known as a premier environmental college. To maintain and enhance this strength will require ongoing engagement and collaboration with external stakeholders, educators, and researchers was well as collaborating across departments within ESF to enhance our scholarship and visibility as an authoritative source on environmental stewardship and sustainability efforts nationally and internationally. This will require strategic resource allocations.

A distilled sample list of measurable sustainability objectives included within the 2022 Self Study report, the 2020 Facilities Master Plan (FMP) and 2021 Clean Energy Master Plan (CEMP) related to engagement includes the following:

- Create a new sustainability center (building) to support sustainability academics, research and outreach programs. All sustainability staff should be located in this building, to make it easier for students to access and work with the Office (FMP)
- Measuring and analyzing student/staff/faculty perception/feedback (CEMP)
- Implement the Clean Energy Master Plan to expand ESF's potential to serve as a clean energy leader for SUNY, NYS and beyond, while creating new opportunities for student and faculty engagement and collaboration (Self Study)
- Continue to use and promote state-of-the-art, cloud-based building management platform, Lucid BuildingOS to aggregate and share portfolio-wide building performance data (Self Study)
- Engagement and collaboration with external stakeholders, educators and researchers and cross departmental collaboration to enhance visibility as authoritative source on environmental stewardship and sustainability (Self Study)
- Maintain ESF's role as a premier environmental college through retaining STARS Platinum status and using STARS as a sustainability roadmap (Self Study)
- Create a unique learning environment that fosters engagement and a "campus that teaches" through reimagining physical spaces to support an improved environment and its related pedagogy (FMP)

Green Cleaning Program (2019)
https://www.esf.edu/sustainability/projects/documents/green_cleaning_policy.pdf
- 75% of cleaning products, by cost, meet GreenNY purchasing standards
- 90% of disposable paper products and trash bags, by cost, meet GreenNY purchasing standards
- 40% of equipment, by cost, meet GreenNY purchasing standards

Green Purchasing and Break Free From Plastic Policy (2021)
https://www.esf.edu/sustainability/projects/documents/break_free_plastic_green_purchasing_policy.pdf
- 100% of ongoing consumables meet GreenNY purchasing standards
- 100% of office equipment, appliances, audiovisual equipment and other electric powered equipment meet GreenNY purchasing standards
- 15% of food and beverage purchases meet sustainability criteria (sustainable agriculture and local sourcing)
- Single use plastics listed in Policy are not able to be purchased with state funds for use on College property or at College events

Sustainable Facilities Maintenance and Renovation Policy (2021)
https://www.esf.edu/sustainability/projects/documents/sus_maint_reno_policy.pdf
- 50% of materials purchased for facility maintenance and renovation, by cost, meet sustainability criteria in policy
- 50% of furniture purchases, by cost, meet sustainability criteria in policy
- 90% of construction and demolition debris will be diverted from landfill and incineration (facilities maintenance and renovation)
-100% of maintenance and renovation projects will implement indoor air quality best management practices

Clean Energy Master Plan (2021)
https://www.esf.edu/sustainability/projects/cemp.php
- Reduce GHG emissions (1990 levels) by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050
- Carbon free electricity system by 2040
- Perform deep energy retrofits on existing buildings
- Adhere to EO 166, New Efficiency New York, CLCPA, SUCF Directive 1B-2 and SUNY Clean Energy Roadmap

Zero Waste Goals (2019)
- By 2025, achieve a diversion rate of 90% (recycling and composting)
- By 2025, achieve a reduction in trash sent to landfill/incineration by 90%

Diversity, equity and inclusion

From the 2022 Self Study Report:
- Support and reward faculty for engagement in inclusion, diversity, and equity work in tangible ways (Page 16)

Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Strategic Plan
Website: https://www.esf.edu/ide/documents/IDE-Strategic-Plan.pdf
Goals from the Strategic Plan are shared below. Each goal has multiple strategies, which can be seen by following the link above
- Goal 1: Create a shared understanding of inclusion, diversity and equity and develop a welcoming
college climate and continuously work toward improvement where issues can be openly and
comfortably discussed among students/faculty/staff/administration.
- Goal 2: Ensure that the college commitment to diversity and inclusion is apparent and embedded at all
levels of the institution.
- Goal 3: All members of the community will engage in curricular, co-curricular and research activities to
improve inclusion, equity and cultural competency within the college and in our local, national, and
global partnerships.
- Goal 4: Improve recruitment and retention of student, faculty, staff and administrative ranks to be
more reflective of NY State Census.
- Goal 5: Ensure understanding by the College community of policies and promoting access to the campus
and to services for all community members.
- Goal 6: Increase alumni engagement to improve inclusion, equity and cultural competency within the
College community.
- Goal 7: Ensure the success of international students from Admission through graduation with
appropriate resources to support their academic goals and extracurricular goals and to enrich the overall
cultural competence of the college as a whole.

Sustainable Investment/Finance

College Foundation
Website: https://www.esf.edu/foundation/
Mission Statement
- The ESF College Foundation (Foundation) is a not-for-profit corporation of alumni, college and community leaders committed to helping the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (College) achieve its mission through resource development and resource management.

Our Beliefs
- The quality of life for present and future generations is inextricably linked to environmental stewardship and the availability of natural resources.
- The College’s mission plays an important role in the understanding and management of renewable natural resources, the application of the principles of sustainable development, and the community’s respect for the environment through education, research and public service.
- The members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and the resources of the Foundation are important assets in supporting the mission and strategic plan of the College.

Our Vision
- The Foundation seeks to provide the resources necessary to allow the College to achieve its dreams without constraint.

Objectives
- Resource Development: To continue to increase the value of the Foundation’s assets through the raising of new funds each year, prudent investments, and real property management.
- Resource Management: To manage the Foundation’s financial investments and other assets in a manner that is both fiscally prudent and consistent with the principles and policies of the College community.
- Board Development: To assure that the members of the Board of Directors have a clear understanding of the Foundation’s activities and their responsibilities in support of those activities.

ESF Mission Statement:

The mission of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry is to advance knowledge and skills and to promote the leadership necessary for the stewardship of both the natural and designed environments.

ESF Vision:

A Better World through Environmental Discovery

A common way that the College concisely combines these mission and vision statement's is through the phrase: Improve Your World

In 2011, ESF framed its re-accreditation assessment around sustainability. The College proclaimed: “Sustainability begins with an obligation to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs through:

- The understanding of basic functions of natural and social systems
- Acknowledging and quantifying the limitations of nature’s capacity
- Developing solutions through the integration of social, economic, technological, and environmental systems"

This refers to the long-term viability of a system with regard to economic, social, and environmental goals and constraints.

Second Nature:

In 2007, the College made ESF a charter signatory of the American College and Universities President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), now Second Nature. This action committed ESF to becoming a carbon neutral campus by reducing emissions to the maximum extent possible and offsetting remaining emissions to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. ESF is well on its way to achieving this goal, having reduced GHG emissions by 25% since 2007. The College’s new Clean Energy Master Plan (CEMP) and suite of associated projects are expected to decrease GHG emissions by another 15%. Upon Plan implementation, the College will have reduced its emissions by 40%, as compared to 2007 levels. Currently, ESF’s largest sources of GHG emissions are purchased steam, natural gas and electricity. The College is working to reduce these sources of emissions through a variety of clean energy projects.

ESF renewed its commitment with Second Nature by signing both the University Climate Commitment and University Commitment to Global Engagements.

America is Still In (We Are Still In):

This is a joint declaration of support for climate action, signed by more than 3,900 CEOs, mayors, governors, college presidents, and others. The organizations they represent comprise the largest and most diverse coalition of actors every established in pursuit of climate action in the United States.

REV Campus Challenge:

The REV (Reforming Energy Vision) Campus Challenge promotes clean energy efforts by recognizing and supporting colleges and universities in New York State that implement clean energy projects and principles on campus, in the classroom, and in surrounding communities. ESF is a member campus (Leader) and has committed to investing in clean energy projects across their campuses, embracing clean energy curricula and research & development, and aiming to engage further with their communities. ESF’s staff and faculty attend annual REV Campus Challenge workshops. In 2017, ESF received a grant through the REV Campus Challenge Technical Assistance Program to create its Clean Energy Master Plan, which will be uploaded to this website upon completion.

Others:

- American Zero Carbon Action Plan
- Bicycle Friendly University
- Choose Action Network
- Clinton Global Initiative Action Network, Post-Disaster Recovery
- New York Stands with Puerto Rico Initiative
- New York State Large Scare Renewable Energy Initiative
- Paris Climate Accords (supporting commitment)
- PLAN Break Free From Plastics Pledge
- Project Inclusion
- Strategic Energy Innovations, Climate Corps
- Tree Campus USA
- UNESCO Biosphere (Adirondacks)
- Well Being Economic Alliance (We-ALL)
- White House Climate Change Commitment
- Zero Waste International Alliance Zero Waste Hierarchy

Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability planning efforts is available:
http://www.esf.edu/sustainability/

2022 Middle States Self Study:
https://www.esf.edu/middlestates/

Strategic Plan Vision 2020 Update:
See attached above

Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion Living Document:
https://www.esf.edu/ide/living-document.htm

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan:
https://www.esf.edu/ide/documents/IDE-Strategic-Plan.pdf