Temple University

College Sustainability Report Card 2009

President Hart signed the Presidents Climate Commitment. A sustainability task force comprised of students, faculty, and staff studied best practices in large, urban universities and issued a report recommending actions to create a sustainable campus culture. The report has been endorsed by the president, and the newly created office of sustainability is moving forward with the recommended actions.

The university is currently undertaking a campus-wide replacement project to upgrade all building lighting to more energy-efficient designs. The project also involves the installation of dual-technology, motion-detector devices and integrated, web-based lighting management systems.

Fifteen percent of the food budget is spent locally and the university makes regular donations to a local food shelter. The university donates its leftover cooking grease for recycling purposes and will be working with an independent firm that manufactures biodiesel fuel from cooking grease. Fair trade coffee is served on campus.

Temple has incorporated several LEED requirements to ensure that all new construction reaches the highest level of green standards. Building design elements, such as mechanical systems, building insulation, appliances, exterior window solar values, and energy-efficient lighting design and controls, follow LEED standards.

Sustainability was incorporated into new student welcome week in fall 2008, and new internships and research opportunities will be funded by the new sustainability office. Residence halls are adding sustainability coordinators to their student senates.

Financial incentives are provided to employees who live near campus to reduce commuting, and employees are able to purchase public transit passes with pretax earnings. Students receive a 10 percent discount on local public transit. The university fleet includes two hybrid and four electric vehicles.

The university has no known policy of disclosure of endowment holdings or its shareholder voting record.

The university aims to optimize investment return and has not made any public statements about investigating or investing in renewable energy funds or community development loan funds.

The university has not made any public statements about active ownership or a proxy voting policy.