As the New York State land grant university and an Ivy League institution, Cornell's comprehensive plan for climate neutrality will have an impact well beyond our campus borders. From students, faculty, and staff to researchers and the administration, our actions and initiatives to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions will engage, educate, and inspire our state, our nation and our world.
Created with financial support from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and among the first such comprehensive programs undertaken by a major university, the Climate Action Plan (CAP) sets the goal of reducing carbon-based emissions from the Ithaca campus to net zero by the year 2050, thus achieving carbon neutrality. Recommended actions in the plan will help the university improve the energy efficiency of its facilities, reducing operating expenses and realizing savings otherwise subject to commodity fuel cost fluctuation, projected carbon legislations, and potential capital expenditure. At the same time, the CAP will help Cornell unify research and teaching around sustainability in its broadest sense: economic strength and stability; research and teaching excellence; and outreach programs that fulfill our Ivy League and land-grant missions.
Cornell has done much—its Transportation Demand Management program, Lake Source Cooling Plant, in-construction Cornell Combined Heat and Power Plant, the Renewable Bioenergy Initiative (CURBI), a longstanding building Energy Conservation Initiative—but there is much left to do. Though the CAP provides an initial set of 19 initiatives to pursue, it is just a starting point. The opportunities represented by new technologies and circumstances of culture and economy will surely change over the course of 40 years. Accordingly, the CAP is a dynamic document and evolving initiative.
You are invited to explore the Cornell Climate Action Plan website and revisit it regularly to see what's been done, what is ongoing, and what Cornell is exploring next.
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