The Carolina Sustainability Council met Monday, December 2 at noon.
Mike Piehler kicked off the meeting by introducing six new Council members. New undergraduate student members include Victoria Farella (UNC Undergraduate Student Government), Ellie Prosser (UNC Undergraduate Student Government) and Max Nelson (UNC RESPC). New faculty members include Noah Kittner, Lindsey Smith Taillie and Ahmed Rachid (AR) El-Khattabi.
Piehler then discussed the Sustainable Carolina team’s accomplishments during the fall 2024 semester, including:
- Champion Sustainability Football Game, coinciding with the release of the Athletics Sustainability Report.
- Energy Transition Town Hall, led by undergraduate and graduate students, with Sustainable Carolina staff appearing on the panel.
- Senator Graig Meyer’s community group that gathers decision makers to talk about the cogeneration plant and the rail line associated with it.
- Annual Sustainability Report, which appraises what we’ve accomplished and where we have gaps.
- AASHE Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) submitted for review in fall 2024.
Annual Sustainability Report Updates
Next, Abigail Brewer went more in-depth on the Annual Sustainability Report. Sustainable Carolina published the 2024 version of the report in October, which is Campus Sustainability Month.
This year’s report is organized differently than previous years. This year’s report is based on the three pillars of Sustainable Carolina’s framework: Leading Sustainability Innovation, Facilitating Transformative Action and Nurturing Educational Efforts. She encouraged Council members to think of things they may want to be included in the 2025 report when the call goes out in April/May 2025.
AASHE STARS Updates
Cindy Shea spoke on submitting STARS 3.0 to the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education on behalf of UNC-Chapel Hill. AASHE helps campuses advance sustainability initiatives, and STARS is an assessment tool that enables us to track our performance over time and see how we’re doing compared to peer institutions.
Shea has submitted these reports since our first back in 2011. The first STARS submission helps universities establish a baseline. Every three years, the rating expires and the University must submit its report again. Since 2014, we’ve earned a GOLD rating through this reporting. Submitting the report allows the University to see what credits we might pursue in the future. It informs strategic planning and budgeting at the University, and helps generate new ideas.
Cindy highlighted the continued need for a Sustainability Literacy Assessment to ensure students have an understanding before they leave the University. Additionally, she said the University could think about a Culture Assessment, which surveys students and employees on belief systems, practices and awareness of sustainability on campus. Lastly, there is a gap in staff training around sustainability concepts, and we could offer more of that in the future.
The University is expected find out its new ranking in spring 2025.
UNC Energy Services Updates
Tony Millette, who joined UNC Energy Services as the executive director nine months ago, gave an update of energy-related projects on campus.
In exciting news, the Airport Solar Field is in its final stages of commissioning and is planned to be operational by the winter holiday. He also discussed the air permit modification moving through the NC Department of Environmental Quality. If approved, the new fuel pellets would be tested for a year. During this process UNC Energy Services will monitor how the pellets work in our existing system and will carefully monitor emissions.
Millette also talked through two partnerships:
- NC Department of Energy and NC Clean Energy Fuel Transition Study
- NC Collaboratory Fuel Transition Study at the Congeneration Plant
Council Member Updates
To wrap up the meeting, we heard two big accomplishments from two Council members. Julie Jacobson Vann highlighted UNC School of Nursing’s recent $300,000 Utforsk grant, in collaboration with Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL). Colleagues from Norway recently visited UNC-Chapel Hill. The partners talked about developing a joint sustainability course, which would likely be offered beginning in 2026. Then, Ellie Prosser shared that the Solar Strides 5k, co-hosted with SolarEquity, raised more than 10,000 to solarize public housing in the area.