Forging Innovative Pathways to Decarbonizing MA: CCC’s first Higher Education Roundtable
Julie Newman, Director of Sustainability at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presenting on Pathways to Decarbonization to a rapt audience. Also pictured are Peter Crawley, MS, ALM, LEED-GA of SR Inc, Dano Weisbord, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tufts University, and Heather Henriksen, Chief Sustainability Officer at Harvard University.
It was great to convene the CCC’s first Higher Education Roundtable on June 6th, 2024 at the UMass Club. A special thank you goes to our key guests from the State of Massachusetts, Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer, Undersecretary of Decarbonization and Resilience Katherine Antos, and Executive Director of the Office for Energy Transformation Melissa Lavinson, as well as to the participating Higher Ed institutions: Bentley, BU, Franklin Cummings, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, Roxbury Community College, Tufts, UMass Boston, and WPI.
Last Thursday's discussion was rich with opportunities for collaboration between Higher Ed and the State of Massachusetts, as well as between institutions. The conversations and presentations centered around five themes:
Campuses as Living Labs: Higher education campuses can serve as living laboratories, offering space, resources, and the bandwidth needed to implement emerging strategies and technologies. Examples of potential activities include piloting renewable energy projects, transforming research into the development of frontier projects, and creating applied learning opportunities for students. Delegates discussed the opportunity to leverage higher ed data to create two new sections of the MA Data Hub including: Climate and Environmental Health (to serve as a resource for municipalities) & Higher Ed Decarbonization (to share progress with the State and stakeholders)
Cultivating Partnerships Between Universities and Municipalities: The creation of a Sustainable Pathways Scholars Program would enable higher ed institutions to provide sustainability advisory and resources (including workforce) to municipalities, small businesses, and nonprofits in developing and implementing decarbonization strategies. This proposed program will be further fleshed out at next month's Higher Ed Roundtable on workforce development.
Aggregated Procurement for Decarbonization: Institutions can use their collective buying power to procure renewable energy and other “stuff” (to use Chief Hoffer's term) critical to campus decarbonization (i.e. heat pumps, EVs, etc.). Climate Chief Hoffer raised the idea of a “Buying Club for Clean Energy," as funding nascent industries like offshore wind through aggregated procurement will smooth the path of implementation and drive down prices to increase the accessibility of new technologies.
Leading by Example: Undersecretary Antos shared that thirteen public higher ed institutions have crafted Decarbonization Roadmaps through the Leading by Example program. This program could continue to catalyze and aggregate higher ed decarbonization planning., specifically for MA’s public insititutions. Once roadmaps are set, it is critical for institutions to initiate outreach to municipality, city, and State permitters and electrical utilities, even for projects that are 5 to 10 years away.
Supporting the Next Generation of Sustainability Leaders: Higher education institutions are key communities in the climate movement, helping young people make meaning and actionable change in this moment. These institutions can begin to answer the questions: what do students need to be resilient in this crisis, and what skills do they need beyond what their coursework already provides? How can we transform and inspire students to create a force for action?
Following discussions during and after the meeting, the CCC identified three specific action items in the near-term:
The CCC will convene a Higher Ed Roundtable focused on workforce development with MA Higher Ed and MA State leaders on Tuesday, July 30th in the President's Parlor at the UMass Club.
As the June 6th meeting made clear, we have the opportunity to examine how a Sustainable Pathways Fellowship Program could best build on existing efforts to make an appreciable contribution to accelerating decarbonization in MA. An SPFP program could leverage support from the State and MA universities, as well as private and corporate philanthropic funding, to provide administrative bandwidth to towns and municipalities across MA. This will be particularly impactful in helping municipalities take advantage of State and federal funding opportunities. See Sabrina Shankman's relevant Boston Globe article on sustainability in MA's cities and towns from early this month: Sustainability Officers Help Deliver Federal Funding. The CCC will continue to examine this action item at the next Higher Ed Roundtable.
The June Roundtable and follow-up discussions identified the need to build on existing efforts to create a clearinghouse of MA decarbonization-related research being done across universities and colleges in MA. Additionally, delegates identified the opportunity to leverage university-driven data to create two new sections of the MA Data Hub including: Climate and Environmental Health (to serve as a resource for municipalities) & Higher Ed Decarbonization (to share progress with the State and stakeholders).
Thanks again to all those who participated. We're looking forward to continuing the development of these action items at the next Higher Ed Roundtable Meeting, tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, July 30th at the UMass Club at One Beacon. This meeting will focus on workforce development.
