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IU renews its commitment to sustainability with new Climate Action Planning Committee

For Immediate Release Apr 7, 2022

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – At the direction of President Pamela Whitten, Indiana University has established a Climate Action Planning Committee to develop comprehensive recommendations to identify short- and long-term opportunities to reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from its various campuses and units.

Pink flowers on the IUPUI campus
A Climate Action Planning Committee will develop recommendations to reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from IU’s various campuses.Photo by Liz Kaye, Indiana University

Largely through reduction in electrical consumption and elimination of the use of coal on the IU Bloomington campus, IU has already been able to reduce its carbon footprint in the past decade. For example, IU Bloomington has reduced greenhouse gas emission by 38 percent during this period. Much of this progress has been related to investments in renovation and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure, and an established commitment to building design standards set forward by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification system, known as LEED.

The Climate Action Planning Committee will be charged with developing recommendations, and identifying new strategies in areas beyond facilities, to continue long-term carbon emission reduction. Specifically, committee members will look for opportunities for the university to improve in areas such as energy use and production; space planning and management; use of university vehicles and transportation; woodland campus planning; retro-commissioning of buildings and infrastructure; exploration of renewable energy and other new technologies; and several other areas.

Committee members include:

Faculty

  • Siân Mooney, professor and dean of the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
  • James Farmer, associate professor in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington, director of the IU Food Institute and co-director of IU Campus Farm.
  • Erin Argyilan, professor and chair of the Department of Geosciences at IU Northwest.
  • Alisa Clapp-Itnyre, professor of English at IU East.
  • Todd Grote, associate professor of geoscience at IU Southeast.
  • Broxton Bird, associate professor of earth sciences at IUPUI.
  • Pierre-André Jacinthe, professor of earth sciences and director of the Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences at IUPUI.
  • Sarah Mincey, clinical associate professor in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington, director of the Integrated Program on the Environment and managing director of the Environmental Resilience Institute.
  • Gabriel Filippelli, professor in the School of Science at IUPUI and executive director of the Environmental Resilience Institute.

Students

  • Hope Stone, IU Northwest.
  • Aspen Grieshaber, IUPUI.
  • Rayden Sia, IUPUI.
  • Alana Maria Davicino, IU Bloomington.

Staff

  • Thomas A. Morrison, vice president for capital planning and facilities.
  • Kevin Elmore, executive director of facilities and operations at IU Northwest.
  • Camy Broeker, vice chancellor for business and finance at IUPUI.
  • Brad Boswell, executive director of state relations.

Media Contact

IU Newsroom

Chuck Carney

Director of Special Projects

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