The UIC Climate Commitments were developed by the Office of Sustainability in conjunction with the Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and the Environment (CCSE). Formed in 2008, the CCSE is composed of UIC employees including faculty, administrators, and operational managers, as well as student representatives. The CCSE is divided into five subcommittees that developed the content for this d
ocument working from other guiding plans, current data on campus indicators, and their technical expertise. Those subcommittees include Energy and Utilities, Grounds, Sustainable Materials, Transportation, and Teaching and Learning. UIC developed our comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CAP) in 2009 that details strategies, goals, and actions that will reduce GHG emissions from 2004 levels by 40% in 2030 and by at least 80% in 2050 without accounting for offsets, to meet its commitment as a 2007 signatory to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (now known as Second Nature). In October 2015, Chancellor Amiridis signed the updated Second Nature Climate Commitment that challenge us to even higher goals. The aspirational goals and short-term action items build upon UIC’s existing progress towards our sustainability goals, our Climate Action Plan, and other governing and guiding documents such as:
•To Green and Beyond: Excellence Through Sustainability at UIC (Strategic Sustainability Thinking Report) (2012)
•UIC Master Plan (2010)
•Urban Transformations: A Phased Approach to Green Infrastructure Implementation at the University of Illinois at Chicago (2014)
•UIC Multimodal Transportation Plan (2015)
The CCSE is updating the goals of the Climate Action Plan to include the new resilience commitment and the recommendations of To Green and Beyond. These new goals are now the UIC Climate Commitments and include four major categories in order to reduce carbon emissions, reduce waste, increase water efficiency, and increase biodiversity at UIC.
