Help Us Set Climate Goals for iCAP 2025!

The University of Illinois community has made steady progress and encountered a fair share of challenges on the road to its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — a target set out by the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP). However, keeping that central goal in mind, some of iCAP 2020’s many objectives need updating; Illinois today is a far cry from the Illinois of four years ago.

The iCAP 2025 update is less than one year away. Because campus has changed drastically, and because of that looming deadline, the Institute for Sustainability, Energy & Environment (iSEE) is asking campus to help identify priorities for iCAP 2025. A series of input sessions will be held throughout the fall to give students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to offer suggestions and learn about the objectives that the iCAP teams are considering, as well as the progress they have made so far.

Student iCAP Input Sessions are scheduled for:

• 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, Room 4035 Campus Instructional Facility (CIF)
• 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, Room 94 Illinois Street Residence Halls (ISR)
• 5 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, Room 2025A Student Dining and Residential Programs Building (SDRP), Ikenberry Commons

This past spring, iSEE used events like the new “Sustainapalooza” celebration and the Green Globe Awards to gather input on iCAP 2025’s top priorities. To acknowledge that feedback, and provide some background on what’s already been accomplished, here are the top answers from hundreds of students, faculty, and staff on what each iCAP Team’s charge should be.

Energy: More renewables

“More renewable energy” was one of the most common suggestions, and for good reason. It is the single most effective way the university can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Currently, around 75% of campus energy is supplied by fossil fuels — natural gas and a small amount of coal — burned at Abbott Power Plant. The rest is either purchased directly from the grid or generated through renewable energy. Today, 13% of campus electricity is generated directly by the University’s two solar farms, a smattering of rooftop solar and geothermal power, and a Power Purchase Agreement with the Rail Splitter Wind Farm.

That percentage is steadily increasing, keeping the campus on track to meet its goals. Even more clean energy is on the way, too. A “Solar Farm 3.0” is in the works and, if campus is to fulfill its clean energy objectives, it must be online and generating 30,000 MWh/year by 2030.

Implementation: Fossil fuel divestment

Based on the recent iCAP feedback, “divest/more sustainable investments” was the number one response from the university community.

Objective 9.1 of the 2020 iCAP details that the university must draw up a plan to rescind its investments from any companies that “profit from the extraction, transportation, or combustion of coal, petroleum, or natural gas.” No plan for fossil fuel divestment has been developed by the Audit, Budget, Finance, and Facilities Committee of the University of Illinois System for approval by the Board of Trustees, who make final financial decisions.

Education/Engagement: Spread sustainability awareness

For iCAP 2025, respondents recommended that the Education and Engagement Teams promote sustainability not only through university events and programs, but also in campus classrooms.

This past fall, the Engagement Team worked with the Office of Civic Life to provide a large number of volunteers at the university’s Zero Waste football and basketball games. The team also suggested collaborating with other student organizations to staff events like Green Quad Day and Sustainapalooza with even more volunteers, thereby increasing outreach and spreading awareness. Looking ahead to iCAP 2025, the Engagement Team is hoping to further educate campus about progress made on iCAP objectives as well as promote Greener Campus Certifications — steps that any campus office, event, or chapter can take to adopt sustainable practices and reduce their environmental impact.

Thanks to the Education Team, the campus is closer than ever to incorporating a sustainability option into the general education curriculum. And iSEE’s Environmental Leadership Program — which includes trips to local city councils, the state Capitol, and Chicago businesses — has seen massive success and will run for its fifth year this fall.

Resilience: Work more closely with the local community

Feedback that fell under the Resilience Team’s jurisdiction fits in well with its overall approach: coordinating with community partners.

The iCAP Resilience Team is unique; some of its members are representatives from Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy. Because climate change’s effects are so wide-reaching, local collaboration is paramount.

And that collaboration has paid off. The university, its three surrounding municipalities, and the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District formed the Champaign County Stormwater Partnership, which has identified best practices to reduce stormwater damage. This played an integral role in both Champaign and Urbana increasing their stormwater fees to better adapt to more extreme weather.

The Resilience Team has also helped spearhead the trans-municipality Urban Biodiversity Master Plan developed by Illinois Extension. This plan would not only benefit native species by planting trees, but also help marginalized and increasingly susceptible communities by fortifying them against the worsening effects of climate change. The campus intends to continue these kinds of collaborative opportunities to address shared sustainability issues in the community.

Transportation: Fewer gas-powered vehicles

Feedback for the Transportation iCAP Team was expansive, but it all falls under one umbrella: less gas on campus.

Reducing the amount of internal combustion engines on campus begets a two-pronged approach: Encourage people to ditch their cars and, if vehicles are necessary, require that they run on electricity.

For individuals, walking, bicycling, and taking public transportation instead of driving drastically reduces emissions. To encourage that, the Transportation Team has stuck close to the 2014 campus bike plan and updated it this year. Those efforts have paid off: Illinois is a certified Bicycle Friendly University and is set to see only 50% of faculty, staff, and students use cars on campus by 2025.

For larger entities, the Transportation Team’s recommendation for an Electric Vehicle Task Force has been fulfilled by the University Parking Department. The Task Force will work with various campus departments, colleges, and divisions to convert their fleets entirely to EVs.

Zero Waste: Increase recycling

Considering that, from a very young age, most University of Illinois students today were taught that throwing something away was bad, it’s obvious why “increase recycling” was one of the most frequent suggestions.

And, if you need an obvious visual for how the iCAP has helped do exactly that, look no further than the giant green bin in Lot 31 across from Grange Grove. It was the final destination for over 2,500 pounds of recyclables generated by Illini fans from two Zero Waste basketball games and two football tailgates.

The Zero Waste Team is looking to increase not only zero waste athletic events but also the amount of “3-bins” that separate waste into paper, plastic, and trash. These receptacles intercept waste at the source, easing the burden from the Waste Transfer Station’s eight sorters and ensuring that less trash ends up in the landfill. Currently, there are 64 around campus; the goal is 150.

Land & Water: More native and pollinator-friendly plants

Just behind expanded recycling efforts, “a greater number of native and pollinator-friendly plantings” was the next most popular response for iCAP 2025.

Every year, 300 new trees are planted on campus, all of them native. Each tree, too, is a natural offset that sucks carbon dioxide out of the air for free and provides much-needed shade for long walks to class.

Not as numerous, but still surpassing the iCAP’s pollinator-friendly landscapes objective, are the many pollinator pockets around campus: 45 in total. These areas, lush with flowers and native plants that benefit bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, will be more than enough to re-certify UIUC as a “Bee Campus USA.”

In the near future, students and bees will be busily buzzing alongside each other, and — because more pollinator-friendly plants was one of the most popular pieces of feedback for the iCAP — helping each other out, too.

 

— Article by iSEE Communications Associate Gabe Lareau