Climate Action

Colgate established an ambitious target to be climate neutral by 2019, the university's 200th anniversary.

“Our aggressive time frame makes sense in terms of good global citizenship as well as Colgate’s academic mission.”
— President Jeffrey Herbst

Presidents' Climate Commitment

In January 2009, Colgate became a signatory of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

By signing the commitment, Colgate pledged to complete a baseline inventory of emissions, take immediate short-term action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, make “sustainability” a component of our formal curriculum, and create a step-by-step plan with measurable goals including a target date for reaching climate neutrality.

With tremendous leadership from Ben Taylor '10, we completed our baseline inventory of emissions during the summer of 2009.

In September 2011, we completed our Sustainability and Climate Action Plan — our roadmap for achieving climate neutrality by 2019.

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Initiatives

We are striving for our goal of carbon neutrality in a number of different ways. Check out what we're doing in each of the following areas:

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