As my first calendar year with UW Sustainability comes to a close, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on what we've accomplished over the past year and our focus areas for 2023.
I joined UW Sustainability in May of 2022, and the past few months have flown by, as I’ve met with many staff, faculty, and students to learn about their fantastic sustainability efforts..While I still have much to learn and more people to connect with, I continue to be amazed and inspired by all the depth and breadth of sustainability work across the University. I’m also excited about the opportunities we have to ensure the UW continues to be a sustainability leader.
The biggest project our office has been working on, in partnership with UW Facilities, is helping to plan for decarbonizing our Seattle campus. The UW Power Plant burns natural gas to produce steam for heating buildings. This natural gas makes up about 93% of our direct greenhouse gas emissions, and UW spends more than $9 million a year on natural gas alone. Recognizing the urgent need to transition off fossil fuels, UW Facilities has developed a five-step energy strategy to transition to 100% clean energy. We want to ensure our community has a chance to learn and provide feedback on the strategy, as we work towards a zero-carbon future. We have created faculty and student task forces focused on this work, and there will be more opportunities in 2023 and beyond to engage with the project.
In addition, we have been preparing for a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions analysis and report. The UW has tracked direct emissions from fossil fuels and electricity, as well as some indirect emissions, but this will be the first time we will compile a full picture of our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. This analysis will include associated emissions from purchased goods, travel, waste and much more. Getting the full picture of all of our greenhouse gas emissions will allow us to better understand the impact of our actions and opportunities to make impactful reductions. This work will also help inform an update of the university-wide Sustainability Action Plan, which is slated to kick-off in the fall of 2023.
As we look toward the future, we want to make sure any new buildings have sustainability at the forefront. UW Sustainability is leading an inter-departmental effort to update UW’s existing green building standard, expanding and strengthening the policies and processes to help ensure a comprehensive and holistic standard for new construction and renovation projects.
Those projects are focused on our operations and built environment, but it’s important our sustainability work addresses the needs of our community, centering equity and environmental justice. I’m proud of the work our team has done to articulate our values around equity, diversity and inclusion. We continue to identify ways we can better integrate these values into our work and connect with the greater UW community working at the intersections of equity and sustainability.
There is much more our team has been working on, and so much opportunity to collaborate with faculty, staff, and students toward our shared goal of a more sustainable University of Washington. I’m excited about the opportunities ahead and all that we can accomplish together in 2023 and beyond!