On April 26, the Green Building Alliance announced it was awarded a $75,000 grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to lead the Higher Education Climate Consortium of Pittsburgh to continue the advancement of this collaboration on climate action.

The Green Building Alliance is the grant managing organization and Steven Baumgartner of BUSS is leading this planning effort as a consultant to GBA.

The City of Pittsburgh and the higher education institutions that call it home share people, infrastructure, research, goals, and more.

Since 2008, the Higher Education Climate Consortium of Pittsburgh has played a critical role in bringing the Pittsburgh region’s higher education institutions together around climate action, while also putting intentionality behind advancing campus goals individually and collectively, to take advantage of city-wide scale and opportunity.

HECC members include Carlow University, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University, Community College of Allegheny County, Duquesne University, Pennsylvania State University’s Pittsburgh Center, Point Park University, Robert Morris University, and University of Pittsburgh.

The 2022 HECC Strategy and Action Plan for Equitable Climate Mitigation is focused on creating a strategic direction for the 14-year-old HECC collaboration, while simultaneously providing support to individual institutions with existing climate action goals and commitments. 

The strategic plan is being developed with an intentional equity lens – to understand how individual universities as well as the HECC as a collaborative can make their climate action planning efforts work for all Pittsburghers.

“Founded in 2008 as part of the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative, the Higher Education Climate Consortium of Pittsburgh has been a long-standing collaboration of Pittsburgh universities working together on climate action,” said Dr. Aurora Sharrard, Co-Chair of HECC and Executive Director of Sustainability at the University of Pittsburgh.  “We are each and all excited about leveraging two grants to expand and accelerate individual and collaborative climate action in higher education throughout Pittsburgh.”

“We are grateful for the support of the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, which will help to invigorate HECC’s efforts to bring all colleges in the Pittsburgh region together to collaborate around climate action,” said GBA Executive Director Jenna Cramer. “By collaborating, sharing information, and setting goals regarding research, education curricula, operations, outreach activities, and commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the universities in our region are achieving meaningful change locally while reinforcing the region’s climate leadership nationally and internationally.”

In addition to the Hillman Foundation’s support, Chatham University has received a $10,000 grant on HECC’s behalf through Second Nature’s Acceleration Fund. 

A national nonprofit committed to accelerating climate action in and through higher education, Second Nature’s Acceleration Fund is dedicated to supporting climate action activities driven by colleges and universities.

The Fund supports projects that advance decarbonization and/or campus-community partnerships and resilience goals.

Announced at the April 2022 Climate Leadership Summit, the Acceleration Fund grant will support HECC graduate student fellows to advance the HECC strategic planning effort over the next year with various data, communication, and/or engagement.

For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the Green Building Alliance website.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates from the Alliance, Like them on Facebook, Follow them on Twitter and visit their YouTube Channel.  Click Here to support their work.

To learn more about green innovation in the Pittsburgh Region, visit the Pittsburgh Green Story website.

Related Articles:

-- University Of Pittsburgh Announces Climate Action Plan To Go Carbon Neutral By 2037

-- Penn State Task Force Unveils Recommendations To Eliminate 100% Of Carbon Emissions By 2035  [PaEN]

[Posted: April 26, 2022]

5/2/2022