In compliance with the Climate Leadership Commitment, Agnes Scott completes annual greenhouse gas inventories to track our progress on our carbon neutrality goal.
Every year, the Center for Sustainability appoints a student intern to undertake this task. The intern collects data from departments across campus, including our Facilities department for refrigerant purchases, Academic Affairs for faculty travel data, the Center for Global Learning for study abroad, Summit and faculty-led travel data, and commuter data from a survey designed with our partners in the Office of Institutional Research & Effectiveness. Utility data, natural gas combustion, and electricity purchases are all included in quarterly reports provided by an external energy manager consultant.
Currently, we have submitted reports for fiscal years 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, and 2024. These can be found on the Second Nature website under the Reporting section. Since 2008, we have decreased our scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by over 50%.
Specifically, our energy-related sources of emissions have decreased significantly, proving the success of our implemented carbon reduction strategy. In 2008, Scopes 1 and 2 were over 11,000 metric tons of CO2e and in 2024, we estimate they are just over 5,000 metric tons. For the seven most recent greenhouse gas inventory reports, we were able to claim the environmental attributes we retain from the four investor-owned solar arrays (Gellerstedt Soccer Field, Parking Deck canopy, Facilities rooftop, Bullock Science Building rooftop) as carbon offsets, successfully reducing our footprint by over 150 metric tons of carbon equivalent.
If you are a current Agnes Scott student interested in becoming the Center’s next GHG Inventory Intern, please email sustainability@whswhotel.com and also check the Handshake website for internship postings.