Indiana University’s new Climate Action Plan, built over the past year through research and input from the IU community, will shape the university’s sustainable future.

“I am grateful to the students, faculty and staff who served on the Climate Action Committee sharing their time, expertise and passion for sustainability to develop these innovative recommendations,” said IU President Pamela Whitten, who recently approved the plan. “Our university’s new comprehensive and thoughtful plan will create a legacy that benefits the people of Indiana for many generations.”

About the plan

The plan establishes a pathway for IU to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 by reducing direct emissions from university-owned or -controlled sources, and indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, heating and cooling.

This pathway provides six recommendation categories:

• Utility grid: Collaborating with local utilities and the state of Indiana to support grid decarbonization.
• Infrastructure: Enhancing energy efficiency and resilience in building design; heating, cooling and energy distribution systems; fleets; and equipment.
• Renewables: Implementing renewable energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
• Behavior: Encouraging changes to reduce energy consumption and optimize space and scheduling.
• Financing: Establishing funding mechanisms to support energy-efficiency projects, renewable energy implementation and resilience initiatives.
• Implementation: Developing structures to effectively execute and monitor the plan.

Within these six categories are 12 recommendations, including converting campus heating systems to hot-water loops; investigating renewable energy options for the Bloomington campus central heating plant; using heat pumps at the building level; continuing to invest in energy conservation measures, such as LED lighting and enhancing building-system efficiency; installing heat recovery systems; fostering behavior changes such as turning off lights when a room is not in use; and installing solar where financially and logistically feasible.

Funding for the plan will come from energy savings; continuing to use repair and rehabilitation funds; partnering with the state of Indiana for major capital improvements; fostering grant applications; and identifying philanthropic, corporate, foundation, federal and other funding opportunities.

For more details

Full plan recommendations may be viewed at go.iu.edu/climate, where plan implementation updates also will be provided.