University of Michigan
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

From February 2019 to March 2021, the University of Michigan President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality (PCCN) worked to recommend a pathway for the university to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, and in doing so, develop scalable and transferable strategies that other institutions and larger communities can apply to achieve the same goal. The commission released its final recommendations in March 2021, after reviewing and considering 521 public comments from U-M community members following the release of the commission’s draft report. The commission's final report and recommendations inform U-M's carbon neutrality goals and actions announced in May 2021. Some specific objectives related to academics include:
1. The Commission recommends that U-M at least double the current $5 million fund to $10 million to support proposals from the university research community. Proposals should be selected via conventional peer review mechanisms with preference given to proposals that cross interdisciplinary boundaries, given the fundamentally interdisciplinary nature of effective climate change solutions.
2. Orientation programs are a critical touchpoint for new students, faculty, and staff. In addition to building carbon neutrality content into in-person onboarding activities, all incoming community members should be required to complete an introductory training on U-M’s sustainability programs and carbon neutrality goals, with an emphasis on why they are important and how community members can contribute in meaningful ways.
3. Because different students and departments have varying needs and degree requirements, the Commission asserts that developing a single mandatory course for all undergraduate and graduate students is unrealistic. Rather, every academic unit should be tasked with developing their own course on how climate intersects with their particular academic focus and/or building climate and carbon neutrality concepts into their core curricula for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Goal - Invest in programs to educate our community, track behavior, and report progress over time toward a campus-wide ethic of sustainability.
$50,000 - Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund grant funds per year
Expand Planet Blue Ambassador programming on all three campuses (Ann Arbor, Flint, Dearborn)
For complete details visit - http://ocs.umich.edu/sustainability-goals/community-engagement/

As efforts toward university-wide carbon neutrality progress, U-M continues to work toward its 2025 Ann Arbor campus sustainability goals.
Achieving net-zero emissions from purchased power (Scope 2) by 2025.
Eliminating direct, on-campus greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1) by 2040.
Establishing goals by 2025 for a wide range of indirect emission sources (Scope 3).
https://planetblue.umich.edu/campus/goals/carbonneutrality/
Waste Reduction goal: Reduce waste sent to landfills by 40% by 2025. Current status - 32% reduction, https://ocs.umich.edu/sustainability-goals/waste-reduction-goal/
Sustainable Food goal: Purchase 20% of food from local and sustainable sources by 2025., Status - 19% purchased, https://ocs.umich.edu/sustainability-goals/sustainable-food/

Pursuing a net-zero endowment by 2050.
Discontinuing direct investments in companies that are the largest contributors to greenhouse gases, as well as in funds whose primary focus is oil reserves, oil extraction, or thermal coal extraction.
Shifting natural resource investments to renewable energy and building on a low-carbon economy.
https://planetblue.umich.edu/campus/goals/carbonneutrality/

The U-M Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategic Plan states the U-M will track metrics that represent important factors in assessing progress toward our goals. We will use these metrics in combination to determine whether specific shifts up or down, or lack of activity, represent positive outcomes relative to creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive campus. Such as:
- Activities related to implementing DEI initiatives, participation rates and action-specific outcomes (learning outcomes from training, etc.)
- Demographic composition of undergraduate and graduate students (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex), enrollment status (class level, entry status), 4- and 6-year graduation rates, degree level (masters, doctoral, professional)
- Demographic composition of faculty (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex, tenure status or job family) and staff (e.g., race/ ethnicity, sex, generation status)
- Student, faculty and staff 12-month satisfaction with the overall campus or school/college or unit climate/ environment, depending on constituency
- Student, faculty and staff assessment of aspects of the general climate and DEI climate of overall campus or school/college or unit, depending on constituency
- Student, faculty and staff assessment of institutional commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
- Student, faculty and staff feelings of sense of affirmation and academic or professional growth, depending on constituency
- Student, faculty and staff feelings of discrimination in the prior 12 months