Overall Rating	Platinum
Overall Score	87.91
Liaison	Pierre Lemay
Submission Date	Dec. 19, 2022

STARS v2.2

Université Laval
OP-2: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	8.00 / 8.00	Pierre Lemay Development Advisor Office of the Vice Rector, External and International Affairs and Health

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions

Gross GHG emissions

Gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion	21,161.20 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	35,197 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources	582.40 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	599 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported electricity	263 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	706 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Total	22,006.60 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	36,502 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Carbon sinks

Figures needed to determine net carbon sinks:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased	1,889 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Institution-catalyzed carbon offsets generated	20,118 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from on-site composting	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from non-additional sequestration	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon sold or transferred	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Net carbon sinks	22,007 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

If total performance year carbon sinks are greater than zero, provide:

A brief description of the carbon sinks, including vendor, project source, verification program and contract timeframes (as applicable):

The Montmorency Forest is the largest teaching and research forest in the world, totalling 397 km2. Since 1964, Université Laval students have had the opportunity to learn about good practices in forestry, forest management, forest protection, and logging, while researchers have been able to conduct studies in this open sky laboratory. As a carbon sink, the forest plays a key role in the university’s GHG reduction strategy. It can absorb an average of 14,413 tons of CO2 equivalent per year. This calculation, which is based on an approach validated by a scientific committee, is used by the university for its carbon footprint assessment.

For two fixed five-year periods (from 2014-2015 to 2018-2019, and from 2019-2020 to 2023-2024), the Séminaire de Québec has offered the university carbon credits equivalent to 5,705 tonnes of CO2 per year. The carbon credits are generated by the additional amount of carbon stored and retained in the forest biomass due to the reduction of its annual forest harvest on a portion of the Seigneurie de Beaupré. In order to generate this volume of carbon credits, the Séminaire has created two conservation areas on Seigneurie de Beaupré, which it has agreed to exclude from its production by halting forest harvesting operations in these two areas.

In order to achieve campus carbon neutrality, Université Laval purchased carbon credits on the market. One of the suppliers is Ecotierra, a company based in Sherbrooke that generates carbon credits by developing high quality forestry and agricultural projects with major socio-economic impacts for local populations as well as positive environmental impacts. All carbon credits purchased are third-party verified and certified under the VCS & Gold standard.

Adjusted net GHG emissions

Adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Adjusted net GHG emissions	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	36,502 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Performance and baseline periods

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Performance year	Baseline year
Start date	May 1, 2020	Jan. 1, 2006
End date	April 30, 2021	Dec. 31, 2006

A brief description of when and why the GHG emissions baseline was adopted:

N/A

Part 1. Reduction in GHG emissions per person

Weighted campus users

Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Number of students resident on-site	2,300	2,300
Number of employees resident on-site	0	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	38,210	30,160
Full-time equivalent of employees	5,442	5,016
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	14,768	715
Weighted Campus Users	22,238	26,420.75

Metrics used in scoring for Part 1

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	1.38 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Percentage reduction in adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user from baseline:

100

Part 2. GHG emissions per unit of floor area

Performance year floor area

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:

8,191,508 Gross square feet

Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:

	Floor area
Laboratory space	2,646,695 Square feet
Healthcare space	0 Square feet
Other energy intensive space	326,523 Square feet

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:

13,811,421 Gross square feet

Metric used in scoring for Part 2

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:

0 MtCO2e per square foot

A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives:

The entire amount of electricity consumed at ULaval comes from Hydro-Québec network. The gross quantities of electricity reported are taken from the annual report submitted to the Quebec Ministry of Education. This compilation is based on Hydro-Québec's electricity bills. The emission factor used for purchased electricity differs from year to year, according to the proportion of electricity available on Hydro-Quebec Network coming from hydroelectricity, nuclear fission, combustion and/or green energies each year. This factor is taken from the Canadian National Inventory Report.

Moreover, the reason why gross scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity is low relatively compared to other institution with a size similar, is because Hydro-Québec produces mostly hydroelectricity. Hydroelectricity generates significantly less GHG emissions compared to other electricity sources commonly found in the US.

Website URL where information about the institution's GHG emissions is available:

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The total full-time equivalent student enrollment in OP 2 differ from IC 3. The discrepancies are due to the referential year. For IC-3, we presented the most recent data (2021-2022). However, for OP-2, because the most recent data we had for GHG emissions were for 2020-2021, we also used full-time equivalent data of 2020-2021.

Same for "Full-time equivalent of employees" and "Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education".

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.