Climate Action Plan - ACUPCC Reports - Climate Commitment

IntroductionAs one of the nation’s largest land-grant universities, the University of Minnesota hasthe potential for many and diverse impacts on our environment, society, and economy.In a world with growing population, limited resources, and increasing awarenessof the implications of our actions, the need to be deliberate about minimizing ournegative impacts and cultivating positive ones is more compelling than ever.This report focuses on a strategic effort to do just that.Perhaps nowhere has thesummons to sustainabilitybeen more compellingthan on college anduniversity campuses.Making decisions that take future generations into account is not a new concept.In the 1980s, convened by the United Nations, the World Commission on Environmentand Development (more commonly known as the Brundtland Commission)called for a global commitment to “development that meets the needs of the presentwithout compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”Since then, the concept of sustainable development has gradually spread around theworld, influencing activities from the construction of sports stadiums in Australia tothe management of fisheries off the coast of Newfoundland, and pretty much everythingin between. Wherever it arises, the pursuit of sustainability carries with it a callto make the well-being of the social, economic, and biophysical systems of our planetparamount as we pursue more resilient and desirable conditions.Perhaps nowhere has the summons to sustainability been more compelling than oncollege and university campuses. Directly impacting millions of individuals eachyear, indirectly touching the lives of many more, institutions of higher education arerecognized internationally as thought leaders and change agents, providing not onlyresearch and education to advance knowledge and practice, but also life-alteringinfluences on individuals just moving into adulthood.Momentum-building measures such as the framing of the international Talloires andLüneburg declarations, development of the American College & University Presidents’Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), and establishment of the Association for theAdvancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) have underscored theessential role educational institutions can play in shaping a thriving future. Aroundthe world, hundreds of colleges and universities are working to advance sustainabilityU of M Systemwide Sustainability • 17