In 2006, President Paul Zingg became one of the founding signatories of the American Colleges & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). In 2016, President Hutchinson reaffirmed this commitment and added Resilience to the Carbon commitment. This climate commitment is an outward expression of our campus’s leadership and commitment to address climate change, build a climate resilient campus and community, and accelerate research and educational efforts.
Our institution has pledged to eliminate our campus’s collective contribution to greenhouse gas emissions over time and reach carbon neutrality by 2030 for scopes 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. This commitment includes establishing an institutional structure to oversee the development and implementation of our commitment.
Updated in 2019, EM-19-033(opens in new window) outlines the framework for the Campus Sustainability Committee (CSC) which serves as the institutional structure to implement the President's Climate Commitment.
Using the Climate Commitment and our Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS®) Gold status(opens in new window) as guides, the CSC works to fully integrate sustainability across campus and deepen roots within our community.
2021 Climate Action and Resilience Plan (PDF) CSC 2020/21 Annual Report (PDF) CSC 2019/20 Annual Report (PDF)
POLICY
The role of the CSC is to facilitate the achievement of CSU, Chico’s sustainability goals. It is important that the composition of the CSC reflects the ability of the committee to facilitate accountability for attaining these goals. The CSC will provide leadership in identifying mechanisms, resources and structure to integrate sustainability concepts into all core functions of the university. The CSC will provide support and leadership for implementing sustainability across the campus via subcommittees covering focus areas targeted at meeting campus sustainability goals. Subcommittees will be led by a member of the CSC and will include additional members from the CSC, faculty, staff, students, and community members as appropriate for meeting subcommittee goals. Initial subcommittees are identified in the appendix.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Membership
The CSC will be composed of 21 members as identified below.
- Vice President of Academic Affairs (or designee)
- Vice President of Business and Finance (or designee)
Voting Ex Officio Members:
- Associate VP Facilities and Capital Projects (or designee)
- Executive Director of the Associated Students (or designee)
- Housing Facilities Director (or designee)
- Campus Sustainability Manager (or designee)
- Associated Students Sustainability Coordinator (or designee)
- Associated Students Sustainability Affairs Commissioner (or designee)
- Associated Students Recycling Coordinator (or designee)
- General Education Sustainability Pathway and Climate Change Coordinator (or designee)
- Rawlins Endowed Professor (or designee)
Voting Appointments:
- Representative appointed by the President
- Representative appointed by the Vice President of Academic Affairs
- Representative appointed by the Vice President of University Advancement
- Representative appointed by the Vice President of Student Affairs
- Representative appointed by the Vice President of Business and Finance
- Staff member appointed by Staff Council
- Staff member appointed by Information Technology
- Student appointed by the AS Sustainability Coordinator
- Student appointed by Campus Sustainability Manager
- Faculty member appointed by Academic Senate
All appointed faculty and staff members of the CSC will serve two-year appointments with the option for renewal; student representatives will serve one-year appointments.
Organization
The CSC will meet monthly during the academic semester with a minimum of eight meetings during the calendar year. The CSC will provide guidance and leadership to subcommittees based on the above outlined focus areas. Each member of the CSC is expected to either chair or actively participate in a subcommittee.
Once a subcommittee chair is identified, that chair is responsible for identifying subcommittee goals and bringing together the stakeholders needed to achieve the goals. It is recommended that each subcommittee include relevant faculty, staff, students, and community members/organizations.
CSC Expectations
- Provide leadership, eliminate barriers and recommend allocation of resources to achieve Chico State sustainability goals
- Actively encourage and advise the campus community on meeting our sustainability goals
- Assist in directing subcommittee goal development, tracking, and reporting
- Publicly publish an annual progress report and present to Academic Senate
CSC Subcommittee Expectations
- Identify annual priorities and goals
- Present plans to the CSC that include work plan, members, timeline, resources needed, and impact
- Implement plan
- Provide progress reports to CSC
Campus Sustainability Manager Expectations
- Provide technical, advisory, and administrative assistance to CSC and subcommittees
- Publicly report CSC progress
- Report to entities to whom campus leadership has made commitments
To view a pdf version of EM 19-033 (PDF).
There are 10 subcommittees currently working on a variety of projects across campus. Each subcommittee is chaired by a member of the Campus Sustainability Committee and includes diverse membership from campus and the broader community. If you would like to participate in any of the subcommittees, please reach out to the chair and find out the best way to get involved.