Overview

The Climate Change & Energy category focuses on a school's efforts to reduce its carbon emissions and energy use. Efforts we look for include:

 

• Specific commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Emissions reductions that schools have already achieved

• Conducting a carbon emissions inventory

• Initiatives to improve energy efficiency and conservation by retrofitting appliances or power plants
• Efforts to obtain energy from renewable resources
• Implementation of conservation campaigns that offer incentives to monitor and reduce one’s energy consumption

 

Key Findings

• Two-thirds of the schools have made a carbon reduction commitment.  Increased attention to climate change is reflected at an impressive 66 percent of the schools through a commitment to carbon reduction. Fifty percent of the schools have signed the Presidents' Climate Commitment, while another 16 percent independently developed their own reduction commitments.

 

• Four in five schools have conducted a carbon emissions inventory.  A notable 79 percent of the schools have identified the sources and tonnage of their carbon emissions.

 

• Two in five schools purchase renewable energy.  Thirty-eight percent of the schools either purchase renewable energy directly from their utility providers or buy renewable energy credits equivalent to a percentage of their campus energy use.

 

• More than half of the schools produce renewable energy on campus.  Facilities for producing solar, wind, bio, or geothermal energy are in operation at 52 percent of the schools.

 

• The average grade for the Climate Change & Energy category is B.  For a summary of grade distribution for this category, please refer to the chart on the right.

 

Leading by Example

 

Grade Breakdown