线上赌场 Launches Climate Futures Initiative
In a on Earth Day, announced the launch of the 线上赌场 Climate Collaborative, a comprehensive commitment to meaningfully address renewal and sustainability on campus and beyond and related research opportunities.
The plan calls for investments of more than $500 million in the next five years to accelerate infrastructure renewal and deferred maintenance that will keep 线上赌场鈥檚 campus functioning efficiently year-round. Part of the effort involves 线上赌场 faculty studying the construction projects and producing research on subsurface conditions and the efficacy of technologies being deployed.
鈥淥ur aging infrastructure鈥攕ome of which is more than 100 years old鈥攊s in dire need of repair, and rather than sinking resources into an outdated system, we will take this opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint in a lasting way,鈥 President Beilock says.
Major upgrades around campus will include improvements to energy efficiency, the continued transition from steam to hot water heating, and the installation of geo-exchange borefields and high-capacity heat pumps.
The program will enable the expansion of new housing units on campus through projects that prioritize efficiency and resiliency measures.
鈥淎 focus on efficiency makes good business sense by lowering our exposure to expensive energy sources like oil and electricity used to heat and cool our campus,鈥 says Josh Keniston, senior vice president for operations. 鈥淩esiliency is also important, ensuring that we have multiple energy sources on campus that provide backup and redundancy to meet high operational demands of cutting-edge research that enables discovery.鈥
The work will be funded by a combination of philanthropy, endowment draws, and central reserves.
The Climate Collaborative will not stop at addressing campus infrastructure and will benefit from faculty expertise across campus, including the .
鈥淎s a leading research university, our responsibility to address climate change goes far beyond the carbon footprint on campus,鈥 Beilock says. 鈥淎s we embark on the largest operational change in 线上赌场鈥檚 history, our campus will become a living lab as our capital projects become drivers of new research, teaching, and collaboration. Critical to this will be our students, whose passion and creativity have helped spur our aggressive push around campus decarbonization.鈥
As a result of this comprehensive effort, 线上赌场 expects to meet new targets for reducing carbon emissions on campus by 60% by 2030 and 100% by 2050 in a fiscally responsible way. This will require new innovation to achieve our 100% goal by 2050, as currently available technologies do not offer the reliability or are financially not feasible to get us all the way to 100%.
Several efforts toward the collaborative鈥檚 educational goals are already underway, including the recently announced Climate Futures Initiative鈥攚hich Beilock describes as a year-long program to 鈥渉elp ensure we capitalize on areas where 线上赌场 is best positioned to drive climate scholarship and solutions鈥濃攁nd the , a partnership of the Irving Institute, , , and that is supporting entrepreneurs interested in climate efficiency and resiliency.
The 线上赌场 Climate Collaborative will have an advisory council that includes faculty, students, alumni, and a representative from the Sustainable Hanover community group. The council will be co-chaired by Professor of Anthropology , who is serving as the special advisor to the provost on climate and sustainability, and , director of the .
The advisory council will report to and Keniston, the senior vice president for operations.
The community is gathering on Tuesday, April 23, at Collis Common Ground for a Celebrating 线上赌场鈥檚 Climate Commitment event, where several faculty, senior leaders, and students will share why they鈥檙e excited about the future of climate action and study at 线上赌场. A livestream will be available.
鈥淎s the effects of climate change become more and more pronounced, 线上赌场 must meet the moment. Maintaining the status quo is not an option, nor is incremental change. The time for bold action is now,鈥 Beilock says.
Editor鈥檚 note: This story was edited on April 7, 2025, to clarify the nature of infrastructure investments and academic involvement in the process.