Climate action plan’s evolution highlights Sustainability Month

UB’s updated climate action plan (CAP) is just three years old, but already it’s beginning to evolve. That evolution will be explained — and celebrated — at an event April 11 that will serve as one of the signature pieces of Sustainability Month at UB.

Much of UB’s CAP remains the same, and the goal is still anchored in achieving an aggressive target of carbon neutrality by 2030. But, since the roadmap of 10 strategies to get there was unveiled in 2020, university leaders have identified three “integrators” that will be infused across each of the 10 strategies going forward: climate justice, resiliency and a call to action leveraging teaching and research called “making it happen.”

“From the research and innovation of our faculty, to the commitment to change and sustainability from our staff, to the purpose, energy and passion from our students, we are working to adapt, evolve and to do our part to decrease our environmental burden on the planet and increase social equity,” A. Scott Weber, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and Laura Hubbard, vice president for finance and administration, said in a campuswide message about Sustainability Month.

Their message also touched on the importance of the three integrators that will play a much greater role in UB’s CAP in the years to come.

“These three themes are going to feed each of the 10 strategies,” says Ryan McPherson, UB’s chief sustainability officer, adding that they grew out of the realization that while the campus has made steady progress with reducing emissions, there’s a lot more work to be done to achieve the goal.

“We can’t sit still in this work. We have to constantly review what’s being done, and the evolution of the UB CAP speaks to that,” McPherson adds. “Unfortunately, there isn’t a single model out there for UB that you can follow that says, ‘Do this and you’ll achieve your goal,’ so we’re trying to keep that saw sharpened and evolve the plan.”

Adds Sophie Nowicki, Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Geology, College of Arts and Sciences, and a faculty member with UB’s RENEW Institute: “The latest IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report has made it clear that there is no going back from some changes in the climate system. However, some changes like sea level can still be slowed and others could be stopped by limiting warming.

"We have the knowledge and the tools to take action right now," Nowicki says. "We can still make a difference, but every day that we wait will make it harder to limit and mitigate the effect of global warming."

This year’s climate action plan update will take place from 9-10:30 a.m. April 11 in the Center for the Arts Mainstage Theatre on the North Campus and, like last year, schools, divisions and other groups will each have their own table on the stage and will generate feedback that will be used to develop tactics and strategies moving forward. Register online.

Campus community leaders will share how the university is advancing climate action, what evolutions have taken place with the climate neutrality strategy and, most importantly, the collective actions schools, units and individuals can take to be part of the solution.

Presenters will include Nowicki; Dorothy M. Siaw-Asamoah, clinical associate professor in the Department of Organization and Human Resources, School of Management; Jason Corwin (Seneca Nation, Deer Clan), clinical assistant professor and director of undergraduate studies, Department of Indigenous Studies, College of Arts and Sciences; Martha Bohm, associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor in the Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning; Derek Nichols, associate director, UB Sustainability; and Tonga Pham, associate vice president for university facilities.

In addition, university leaders will discuss the importance of each of the three integrators.

Climate justice builds from the work completed through the President’s Advisory Council on Race as applied to climate mitigation and adaption strategies.

The resiliency piece covers everything from the stability of UB’s buildings and electrical grid amid a changing climate, to ensuring that essential employees have what they need to perform their roles during a major weather event such as the Christmas blizzard that slammed the region last year. UB is also exploring obtaining resiliency certification through Second Nature, a nonprofit that accelerates climate action in, and through, higher education.

The “making it happen” component dives into ensuring that UB graduates sustainability literate students by advancing sustainability learning outcomes across the university. In addition, this integrator also works to support existing and future efforts to leverage the campus as a living laboratory of climate action for UB students, staff and faculty.

Other CAP changes include refining and clarifying each of the 10 strategies, as a few of them have been reorganized and changed names to better call out their mission and significance.

In addition to the April 11 CAP update, several other signature events are taking place as part of Sustainability Month:

• April 13, 3-4:30 p.m., 240 Student Union: Queer climate justice event. This event will explore the fact that sustainability has always been connected to queerness. The interconnectedness of the two is illustrated by the green stripe in the pride flag, which symbolizes nature and growth. It signifies that being queer is part of nature’s design, and that queer people have a duty to support the environment.
• April 20, noon-1:30 p.m., GRoW Clean Energy Center: “What is ESG?” ESG stands for environment, social and governance investing, and it’s received a lot of attention lately, especially among students. In this session, Erin Komorowski, director of ESG and sustainability at M&T Bank, will review what ESG is and why it matters.
• May 1, 4-6 p.m., GRoW Clean Energy Center: “GRoW Your Network.” The Career Design Center and UB Sustainability are hosting this event where attendees will have the opportunity to network with sustainability professionals from various industries.

For the complete list of Sustainability Month events, visit the UB Sustainability website.