Dartmouth College

College Sustainability Report Card 2008

Dartmouth College has a sustainability coordinator who works with the Resource Working Group—a collaboration of administrators, faculty, and staff—to implement sustainable practices on campus. The college prepares an annual sustainability report that tracks consumed energy and water as well as emissions and solid waste. The Dartmouth Sustainability Initiative website highlights initiatives and provides detailed information on energy efficiency.

The energy conservation technician is charged with finding energy conservation opportunities in existing buildings. This year alone, Dartmouth reduced energy use by 5.5 percent thanks to energy conservation efforts by students and staff. Dartmouth has a two-year contract to purchase 2,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy per year. Some solar panels currently provide campus power, as well.

The introduction of locally grown foods to college dining halls began in 2005 through the Farm-to-Dartmouth Project. Currently, food is sourced from ten local producers. The college has eliminated Styrofoam to-go containers, and some dining halls compost food waste at an on-campus facility.

Dartmouth has adopted LEED principles as part of its building policy. The college has submitted documentation for LEED certification for four new buildings that opened in 2006. Six more buildings, in the design or construction phase, are, or will be, LEED registered.

Dartmouth provides over $400,000 of financial support to fund the regional and downtown/campus shuttle system, which may be used free of charge by all riders. Dartmouth’s transportation demand management program pays college employees not to buy a parking pass, and premium parking is provided for carpools. The college fleet contains 12 hybrid vehicles.

Dartmouth’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR) makes its annual report available to the college community and any interested outside party on the school’s website. Any Dartmouth community member can view a hard-copy listing of all publicly traded shares that the college directly owns by visiting the college’s investment office.

The college aims to optimize investment return and is currently considering investing in renewable energy funds or similar investment vehicles.

The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR), which is comprised of faculty, administrators, students, and alumni members, deliberates and makes voting recommendations on all proxy resolutions pertaining to social and environmental issues pending at companies in which Dartmouth directly owns shares. The ACIR forwards those recommendations to the college’s investment office; the recommendations have never been rejected.