News & Insights

SUNY Cortland to receive climate action consulting

SUNY Cortland was one of 10 colleges and universities around the country selected for a pro bono consulting opportunity to help advance its climate mitigation strategies.

Second Nature, a Boston-based non-governmental organization that works with higher education institutions to accelerate climate action, provided this opportunity through consultants Brailsford & Dunlavey and CustomerFirst Renewables.

“At SUNY Cortland, we are always looking for new ideas on doing things more effectively and sustainably,” said President Erik J. Bitterbaum. “This opportunity will help us make better decisions as we continue to push toward our goal of carbon neutrality.”

This project aims to help winning campuses reduce or eliminate CO2 emissions while minimizing operating costs or achieving other objectives. More than 50 colleges that are affiliated with either the Climate Leadership Network or the University Climate Change Coalition were eligible.

Cortland and the University at Albany will work with Brailsford & Dunlavey, a Washington, D.C.-based program management firm, to create short- and long-term plans to reduce Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions on campus. The firm also will help the university find cost-effective and implementable actions to attain carbon neutrality. If they are successful, SUNY ultimately aims to replicate them throughout the 64-campus system.

This is an excerpt from an announcement originally published by SUNY Cortland. Read the full piece here.