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After months of deliberation and pressure from student activists, the University will announce plans today to form a Climate Change Task Force and explore the possibility of achieving University-wide carbon neutrality.
Jerome Schnydman, executive assistant to the president, said a formal announcement was expected from University president William Brody later today.
In an e-mail to Blake Hough ‘07 and Teryn Norris ‘10, co-presidents of the Hopkins Energy Action Team (HEAT), James McGill, the University’s senior vice president for finance and administration, said, “I am very pleased to let you know that President Brody supports the recommendations and approach contained in the report forwarded by the Sustainability Committee.”
“The four principles, including the vision for carbon neutrality, reaching out to the greater Baltimore community, leveraging the special strengths of Hopkins, and involvement of students are all elements of the right approach.”
In a telephone interview today, McGill said the University would not set a fixed date for achieving carbon neutrality, nor would it sign onto the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which more than 70 other colleges and universities across the country have signed.
“It’s not the appropriate kind of response for Hopkins to make,” he said. “We just think that the appropriate response really focuses on the particular strengths of Hopkins.”
On whether the University would adopt a definitive carbon-neutral policy, McGill said the announcement today “stops short of the commitment to do exactly that.”
Norris said he was unclear on the details of the University’s
decision, and that he was awaiting a formal announcement later today.
“It’s hard to say what exactly will come out of this task force,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say they’re committed to carbon neutrality.”
More updates will follow on this page as the story develops.
sal.gentile@jhunewsletter.com
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