The 2020 Climate Action Plan Dashboard

In 2016, Vassar administration endorsed the 2016 Climate Action Plan with an ultimate stated goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. In October 2019, Vassar’s Board of Trustees endorsed an aggressive, $13-million energy efficiency project (detailed here) that set the College on course to become carbon-neutral by 2030. One year later, the College announced a series of additional initiatives that will move the College closer to that goal.

The 2020 Climate Action Plan (CAP) represents the collective interests of the Vassar community as obtained through a survey, all-campus brainstorming sessions, focused climate action teams, and the work of the Climate Action and Sustainability Committee.

The recommendations in the CAP empower the College to take several concrete steps to reduce its carbon footprint by an estimated 2,000 metric tons in the next five years. When combined with the ongoing facility improvements approved last year, Vassar will emit less than 5,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas annually – almost an 85% reduction from 2005.

The full text of the Climate Action Plan can be downloaded as a PDF. As the dashboard for the Climate Action Plan, this site also hosts a number of supporting documents, background information, and routinely updated indicators of Vassar's progress toward the Goals outlines in the CAP.