Pomona College

College Sustainability Report Card 2010

The President's Advisory Committee on Sustainability completed a campus sustainability audit in 2008. The group also gave thousands of dollars in grant money to student organizations as part of the President's Sustainability Fund. Pomona requires the purchase of Energy Star-certified appliances, paper with at least 30 percent recycled content, and Green Seal-certified cleaning supplies.

Pomona completed a greenhouse gas emissions inventory in 2008. In 2007, Pomona purchased 2.1 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits, and photovoltaic arrays on campus produce approximately 118,834 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy each year.

Dining services purchases 60 percent of all produce locally, much from family-owned farms. All meat and milk is hormone- and antibiotic-free and all seafood meets Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch guidelines. The college purchases only fair trade coffee. All dining facilities operate preconsumer compost programs.

Pomona's green building standards require that all new construction meet LEED Silver criteria. The college has three LEED-certified buildings, with approximately 20 more meeting LEED certification standards. Pomona aims to divert 95 percent of nonhazardous construction waste from landfills.

An environmental affairs commissioner works with the sustainability coordinator and represents the student Environmental Quality Committee to the student senate. The Campus Climate Challenge group pushed all dining halls to become trayless beginning in summer 2009. Abandoned and donated items are collected from residence halls in the spring and sold to incoming freshmen through the Clean Sweep/ReCoop program. Food Rescue volunteers collect leftover food from dining halls for shelters.

Pomona subsidizes public transportation passes for community members and provides monetary incentives for individuals who carpool. There is a car-sharing program on campus and the student group Green Bikes runs a free bicycle-sharing program.

Information on endowment holdings is available only to trustees and senior administrators. A list of votes cast on proxy resolutions on a company-specific level is sent upon request to all members of the school community including faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

The college aims to optimize investment return and is invested in renewable energy through its funds. The college is exploring further investment in renewable energy funds or similar investment vehicles.

An advisory committee with two to three students, three faculty members, and two staff makes proxy voting recommendations to the president.