University of Pennsylvania
IN-20: Grounds Certification

For the eleventh year in a row, Penn has been named a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. The Tree Campus USA program recognizes college and university campuses that effectively manage their campus trees. To continually obtain this distinction, University of Pennsylvania has met the five core standards for sustainable campus forestry required by Tree Campus USA, including establishment of a tree advisory committee, evidence of a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance and the sponsorship of student service-learning projects.

In addition, the main academic campus of the University of Pennsylvania was designated as a Level II Arboretum under ArbNet certification. The Penn Campus Arboretum curates and manages a diverse collection of trees, focused on preserving and sustaining the urban forest for the well-being of the community, environmental benefits, research and educational opportunities. Penn’s campus is an urban forest with over 6,500 trees in its collection, over 240 species of trees and shrubs, ten specialty gardens and five urban parks. Penn has dedicated resources and coordinated the care of a comprehensive tree management program over the course of many years, resulting in Tree Campus USA designation and ArbNet arboretum accreditation.

http://www.arbnet.org/morton-register/penn-campus-arboretum-university-pennsylvania-0

The University of Pennsylvania is a major research institution, with over 3,000 degrees granted annually from twelve professional and academic schools at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate levels. Penn is committed to reducing emissions and energy use, as stated in the 2019 "Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0." This submission documents Penn's efforts during the FY20 year and compares them to the FY09 baseline year which corresponds with the University's "Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0." The submission relies on information related to the main, academic, West Philadelphia campus, but to more fully document efforts across the Penn system, information related to the Morris Arboretum and New Bolton Center has also been referenced and noted as outside the boundary in descriptions. The information is used to enrich examples of University efforts and is not intended to be the primary justification for credits. The responses for each of the questions and sub-questions are drawn from University materials, both internal and public documents. Each section notes the website where the information can be found.