Carbon neutral

President Bergeron announces College’s commitment to zeroing out its carbon footprint.

Speaking to students, faculty, staff and invited guests who gathered at Chapel Green to celebrate Earth Day, Conn President Katherine Bergeron announced the College’s commitment to zeroing out its carbon footprint.

“Today is the day we set aside to honor our individual and collective commitment to our planet,” Bergeron said, noting that Earth Day is a tradition that began about 50 years ago.

“The stresses on our planet have only multiplied in the past half-century, making our collective responsibility at this moment even more urgent.”

To respond to this urgency, Bergeron said that the College has set a goal to “achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2030.”

“Net zero by 2030,” she emphasized to great applause. 

Conn has also pledged to take an environmental, social and governance approach, known as ESG, to the College’s investment strategy and plans to increase diversity and equity in its portfolio through more-inclusive investment practices. 

Doug Thompson, the Rosemary Park Professor of Geoscience and Environmental Studies and the Suzi Oppenheimer ’56 Faculty Director of the Office of Sustainability, and Assistant Director of Sustainability Margaret Bounds outlined in more detail the steps Conn will undertake to fulfill its pledge to net neutrality, such as reducing waste, promoting the use of electric cars, lowering energy use across campus and limiting vehicular traffic to create a greater campus experience.

The largest of these projects is a potential 800-kilowatt solar array located south of the tennis courts, with some of the array installed as a canopy system. Conn wants to wean itself off gas-powered vans and “electrify” the transportation fleet while installing five more electric charging stations, bringing Conn’s total up to seven. Each charging station has the capacity to charge two cars at a time. Thompson also noted improvements to Williams Street that will hopefully increase bike access to campus. Additionally, Conn plans to save on natural gas through heating and cooling repairs, adding air-source heat pumps and more LED lighting on campus. 

In July 2021, Connecticut College earned a Gold rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), a program of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). This puts Conn in the top 15% of the 1,000-plus institutions currently rated by AASHE.