Ad Hoc Committee on the OSU Carbon Commitment

Voting members present: Marlys Amundson, Lindsay Andrews, Lety Cavazos, Tess Collins, Kimberly Hannigan Downs, Keith Jayawickrama, Cinamon Moffett, Jacob Putney, Shelly Signs, Brandon Trelstad, Beth Filar Williams
Voting members absent: Michael Freitag
Guest present: John Duel, Maddie Moyano, Lane Walter

Proposed Standing Rules (5/11/21)

The Carbon Commitment Committee advocates for OSU to meet the goals of the Carbon Commitment signed by President Ed Ray in 2007 and promotes lasting changes to policies affecting OSU's carbon footprint. The Committee supports the OSU Sustainability Office in furthering the objectives of the Carbon Commitment; seeks to motivate faculty, staff and students to contribute to the carbon reduction mission; and helps develop recommendations for achieving carbon neutrality. The Committee’s main focus is on measurable, tangible reduction of OSU’s carbon emissions at its various locations throughout the State.

Achieving the objectives set by the Carbon Commitment requires action and collaboration by all parts of Oregon State University. The Carbon Commitment Committee provides faculty leadership to support effective engagement by all faculty and their home units.

The Committee shall consist of at least one (and up to two) voting member(s) from each of the following units: academic colleges, OSU Libraries, Associated Faculty, OSU-Cascades, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Division of Extension and Engagement, Student Affairs, ROTC, two student members – one undergraduate and one graduate, and the Sustainability Office. Individuals may represent two units where their position fits in both units. The committee shall have a minimum of 10 members with the total voting membership not to exceed 25. An ex-officio, non-voting member may be from the OSU Foundation”.

• Note from Faculty Senate: Each Spring, committee chairs are requested to forward to the Faculty Senate the name(s) of suggested chairs for the coming year. Typically, the Executive Committee accepts the suggestions of the chair(s).

Email from Selina Heppell, 5/11/21

Hi Keith and Shelly,

Vickie and I reviewed these yesterday and she explained a few more things that I was unclear about.

1. The Executive Committee’s process for assigning committee members (soliciting all faculty to choose up to three committees for service) is designed to ensure that committee membership is diverse and that no one is assigned to multiple committees. For faculty that really want to serve on a particular committee, the easiest way to get assigned is to list the same committee for first, second, and third choices. We will solicit members for C3 along with the other committees starting this year, but we want to give your current membership the option to stay on.
2. Committee terms are 3 years but can be renewed. For this new committee, we can start with current membership for AY22, including yourselves. At your meeting today, please create a list of your members that want to continue. Ask them if they would like a 1 or 2-year term moving forward (this current year will count as year 1).  Once we have the list, we can assign those spots and identify the gaps for new members.
3. For your chair election, we (EC) solicit recommendations for the next year’s chair(s) in the spring. You can conduct an election with your current committee to do this, then forward the results as your recommendation for chair. This is not a guarantee, but we generally follow the recommendations provided. Rules for chair elections can be specified in your Committee Guidelines, which do not need to be approved by the Senate to change (but should be reviewed by EC).
4. You may want to discuss other Guidelines to add to your website.
5. Vickie can schedule you to visit with the EC to go over the Standing Rules and approval for the committee (scheduled for 5/18/21).

Please let me know if you have any questions! Best,

Selina

Feedback from Members

• The work that “Education” workgroup does may not directly translate to measurable reduced emissions that show up in OSU’s greenhouse gas report, but is important for the institution and the world. The Workgroup was established at the start of the Ad Hoc committee. All involved accept that, and Education and Curriculum will remain a focus of C3. The current text doesn’t seem to be an obstacle to the WG continuing.
  • Based on this input, we modified the text from “focus” to “main focus is on is on measurable, tangible reduction”.
• Responding to the FS request to nominate a Chair(s) for the next FY, members were supportive of Shelly and Keith remaining as co-chairs into FY2021-22 to aid the transition, and S and K were willing to stay on for the good of the cause.
• Unless we hear otherwise from them, current C3 members continue to the new Standing Committee with 2-year terms. C3 is also listed in the Committee Interest Survey which is due on May 19; this could identify new members who wish to join.

https://oregonstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eJNFWsN08BgptNs

Carbon Pricing Proposal

Members were happy with the draft that Maddie has written with the Carbon Pricing WG input. They liked the $60/ton proxy price. Sustainability Office and the Carbon Pricing Workgroup will continue to work on it. Expect another WG meeting in late May or early June (will be open to all C3 members). Next step would be to get input from some economics experts at OSU. Maddie will be moving on shortly– members wished her the very best.

Updates on carbon reduction efforts around OSU (Brandon\Lety)

“Path to Carbon Neutrality” is getting some leadership input and closer to release. Leadership is favoring the same approach as taken in the “Sustainable Transportation Strategy” paper. Planning to show 10 measures. Leadership has asked for costs, the proposed spending level averages $2.3 million per year (recurring expenses over the next 10 years). This is separate from other capital project costs like $2.5 million for replacing the Energy Center turbine. The idea is to bring carbon from electricity way down (solar panels, purchasing newly installed renewable energy). However, for the co-gen heating and travel, there is really no alternative to buying carbon offsets. We don’t have a way to heat the buildings through truly zero-carbon fuel sources, and replacing the co-gen plant is not feasible.

Annual Report to Faculty Senate

It will cover January 2020 to end of June. We want to get this in by end of June. Lety will summarize key results from the 2020 Greenhouse Gas Report. Work Groups are asked to submit their summaries to Shelly by early June (earlier would be fine too!). Report at a Faculty Senate meeting in fall.

Fall Campaign

There is work underway between Conservation workgroup and Communications to come up with an energy saving campaign for fall. Looking to tie into the Marketing units “BE(AVER)” slogans.

Members were asked to put their thinking caps on for catchy slogans which could bring attention to the carbon-reduction goal!

Next Meeting

There was interest in a meeting in summer, rather than wait all the way to the fall semester (September). C3 could provide input on policy issues which come up from time to time. Shelly will send out a Doodle for July.