UB is closing out its most noteworthy Sustainability Months yet with another big announcement: The university now has a climate action policy. The comprehensive process that was several years in the making concluded with President Satish K. Tripathi’s signature, and the document is now available on the UB Policy Library.

This comes just days after UB’s Earth Day announcement reporting that the university has achieved carbon neutrality for its directly controlled emissions five years ahead of schedule.

The policy is broad and covers a diverse array of subjects — such as vehicles, energy, waste, procurement, food, and investments — and codifies and reinforces UB’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). It solidifies the university’s commitment to climate action and sustainability across its core missions of teaching, research, operations and public service.

It’s also an acknowledgement of the contributions made by each of the working groups and corresponding CAPtains overseeing UB’s 10 in 10, the name given to UB’s Climate Action Plan.

“The creation of this important policy was a collaborative effort from numerous university departments and leaders including our CAPtians — a key leadership council advancing the Climate Action Plan and strategy as well as the roughly 25 individuals from departments across the university that comprise the university’s Policy Review Group,” says Derek Nichols, associate director for sustainability.

“We are grateful for their perspectives and insight, which strengthened its impact and reflected the many different communities on our campus.” 

In addition, the policy provides a framework for further guidance and action through a set of guiding principles. These include implementing a carbon pricing strategy designed to promote sustainable decision-making, decarbonizing campus buildings, minimizing waste generation and pollution through a zero-waste strategic plan, and increasing efficiency to reduce energy and water consumption.

UB’s policy is designed to complement executive orders signed in recent years by New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul that established mandatory goals for state agencies like UB to accelerate sustainability and decarbonization and increase their procurement of food products produced in state.

In the months to come, each of the 10 CAP working groups will convene to further develop the procedures that form the backbone of the policy.