Environmental Stewardship Committee
The commitment and the committee
The Environmental Stewardship Committee was created in November 2007 to lead UB’s work toward fulfilling President Simpson’s endorsement of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and in pursuit of a broader agenda for sustainable development and design on our three campus centers.
The Climate Commitment – now signed by nearly 650 institutions of higher education nationwide – requires UB and all the other signatories to make an inventory of current carbon emissions and, within two years, to create a plan for making each of their campuses “carbon neutral.” UB’s Environmental Stewardship Committee is undertaking that work in coordination with Building UB: The Comprehensive Physical Plan.
The committee was constructed according to one basic principle: those people representing units of the university with the budget authority and operational capacity to implement a climate action plan ought to be intimately involved in creating, implementing, and monitoring the plan.
Accordingly, individuals at the chief of staff level or above in Facilities, Information Technology, Human Resources, Student Affairs, and Business Services, as well as the Office of the Provost, Undergraduate Education, the Graduate School, the Office of Research, the Office for Strategic Initiatives, and the Vice President for Health Sciences all serve on the committee along with representatives of Student Association and Graduate Students Association.
The committee is chaired by Robert G. Shibley, Professor of Architecture and Planning, Senior Advisor to the President for Campus Planning and Design, and point person for the development of UB’s new Comprehensive Physical Plan. Shibley’s leadership of the committee will allow UB to align planning for campus growth with planning for sustainability and climate neutrality.
Meetings of the Environmental Stewardship Committee are held on the first Wednesday of each month from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Members of the university community are invited to observe. Check our listing for locations and schedule changes. Unofficial notes are published here after each meeting.