President Crawford to sign Second Nature's PCLC: Climate Commitment
It will strengthen Miami's path to carbon neutrality, climate resilience
By Susan Meikle, university news and communications
President Greg Crawford will sign Second Nature’s Climate Commitment, the most comprehensive of its Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments (PCLC).
Miami’s Oxford campus will join more than 350 other colleges and universities committing to achieving carbon neutrality and addressing climate change resilience.
- In a public declaration of Miami’s continuing commitment to carbon neutrality, a signing event will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, in the Oxford Uptown Parks.
The Miami University Sustainability Committee, which recommended signing the commitment, stated that by becoming a signatory of the PCLC, Miami will be part of a large network of colleges and provided with a timeline and requirements for reporting, along with other benefits.
Climate Action Plan Task Force
Adam Sizemore (left) and Jonathan Levy, co-chairs of the new Carbon Action Task Force (pictured in Shideler Hall, Feb. 2020, by Scott Kissell.)
Crawford has already begun the process of forming a Climate Action Task Force — the first requirement of the PCLC Climate commitment. Jonathan Levy, director of the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, and Adam Sizemore, director of sustainability, have been appointed task force co-chairs.
Levy and Sizemore have created a Climate Action Task Force structure and will be appointing Miami faculty, staff and students to the task force executive steering committee. The members of the executive steering committee will form subcommittees with representation from faculty, staff and students in 12 focus areas.
The task force is charged to work collaboratively with the campus community to:
- Create a Climate Action Plan by May 2023. This plan will set a date by which Miami will commit to achieving carbon neutrality for the Oxford campus and detail our institutional approach to achieving that goal.
- Develop a Climate Resiliency Assessment and Plan by May 2022.
Making this public commitment through the PCLC could help rally the campus and empower faculty, staff and students as we all work together to achieve carbon neutrality, the sustainability committee stated in a report to Crawford.
Beyond reaching carbon neutrality, the Climate Commitment includes addressing social equity and governance, health and wellness, and economics, Levy and Sizemore said.
Miami is already a leader among universities nationwide in sustainability efforts. "Given the global, existential threat of climate change to human, economic and ecosystem health, we must take the next step including joining other universities, companies and even countries in committing to carbon neutrality,” Crawford said.
Sustainability @ Miami: Timeline and reports
Among Miami's achievements is a 51% reduction in energy emissions (over the 2008 baseline) thanks to a comprehensive and innovative transformation of its campus energy systems.
To prepare for the next decade and beyond, Crawford charged the Sustainability Committee last year to prepare a new sustainability plan (see “A Commitment to Lead”, June 2019).
Crawford expressed his commitment to carbon neutrality at Miami in September 2019 and charged the Sustainability Committee with exploring details that could shape a Miami plan for carbon neutrality, as a follow up (see “Further Examination of Carbon Neutrality Pathways” Feb. 2020).
- The news story Next steps on Miami's path to carbon neutrality provides more details.
- Visit the Sustainability at Miami website for more reports and information.
Follow Miami University sustainability on social media:
- Twitter: @miamiohsustain
- FaceBook: @MiamiOHSustainability
- Instagram: @miamiohsustainability