Carbon Neutral By 2030

Our vision is a zero emissions future, where clean hydrogen energy and advanced carbon materials are co-produced efficiently and sustainably from natural gas and oil.

A place where humanists, artists, architects and social scientists come together to conduct research and teach about the most pressing questions of climate instability.

Rice has revisited an existing commitment to sustainability, editing it to become an overarching policy that spans all facets of the university’s actions. Universities are uniquely suited to be catalysts for the conversations, scholarship and technological advances that will be required for the transition to sustainable policies and practices. The steps we collectively take or fail to take as a society will directly impact the well-being of each of us and the prosperity of future generations. As a university committed to the discovery, transmission and application of knowledge, Rice must assure that we are contributing to addressing the most fundamental challenges of our time.

We have a unique role to play in building this future. We will build on the existing work of our faculty, students and staff to make this a central part of our university’s goals and practices. We will seek new ways to support them while assuring that the university contributes to environmental goals and produces new knowledge and teaching that will help enable broader progress.

Given the commitment of Rice faculty to research and scholarship that supports human knowledge and progress, it is unsurprising that this issue has been addressed from many disciplinary perspectives. Over the last two years, over 100 faculty from many schools and disciplines have coalesced through the Envirofac group to exchange ideas and formulate new ones that allow Rice to play an increased role in addressing a variety of sustainability challenges. Our faculty, students and staff have a strong desire to contribute to solutions and to see their university as an active participant in the global effort to address climate change and other pressing environmental issues. Contributions range from devising new solutions through science, engineering and architecture, to developing an understanding of what the cultural, economic, political and social obstacles to needed change are.

Recently, university leaders and board members met to reinforce the university’s dedication to this initiative, setting a revised goal to reach campus carbon neutrality by 2030. To achieve this, focus was placed on a few key areas: how our endowment is managed, our operational environmental commitment on campus, support of environmental research and fostering student leadership. By making these commitments, we are placing investments in the environment as one of the university’s highest funding priorities.

Managing the Endowment

In December 2021, the Rice Management Co. Board of Directors approved a statement that committed to upholding values aligned with the concept of sustainability. This statement lists a number of actions to take, all before or by 2030, as well as a timeline of how to sustainably provide campus resources in perpetuity.

Defined actions to take include development of assessment tools to use in the investment process; establishment of collaborative partnerships with organizations focused on financial and environmental sustainability and measurement; a commitment, through increased investment and dialogue with fund managers and partners, about meaningful steps to lower climate risk and reduce emissions; and taking a leadership role in reducing emissions related to fossil fuel and other investments through engagement. A final statement commits to a carbon neutral portfolio by 2030. Rice University and the Rice Management Co. also received board approval to become a signatory to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment

Operational Environmental Commitment on Campus

The physical campus will be utilized as a “living laboratory” to study sustainability and resilience challenges, incubate ideas and pilot solutions. This includes rapid action on campus to identify emissions reduction opportunities and steel utility infrastructure to withstand operational disruptions; a commitment to achieve a gold level rating in the U.S. Green Building Councils Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED); investment in water efficiency and conservation projects related to campus needs; and a challenge to departments across campus to identify and pursue opportunities for environmental improvement.

Supporting Environmental Research

A large number of our faculty are engaged in large scale, externally funded projects that are likely to have a major impact on climate change, sustainability and fairer distribution of environmental costs. In 2021, the Office of Research announced a Sustainable Futures seed fund to promote the development of new research or academic partnerships to launch and expand high impact environmental research. The goal of this funding is to draw new faculty members into work on issues related to climate change.

The Office of Research received 23 proposals in response to its initial call. The breadth of ideas and scholarship represent nearly every corner of our university. The Envirofac group has also recommended an overarching research structure in this area, and we will explore implementation of this proposal once new leadership, including the provost and vice presidents for research and innovation, is in place.

Fostering Student Leadership

Students at Rice are central to helping achieve these goals. They have demonstrated interest, commitment and talent in contributing to sustainability efforts. To encourage their engagement and support, a student sustainability engagement fund will launch in 2023, making resources like internship grants and city-based organization partnerships available.

Visit unconventional.rice.edu to see some of the incredible things already happening at Rice and learn more about how we are defining Unconventional Wisdom.

This content was paid for and created by Rice University. The editorial staff of The Chronicle had no role in its preparation. Find out more about paid content.