The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recognized Hopkins for its use of green power sources, which accounts for 60% of the University’s total power needs. The University currently ranks fourth among colleges in the EPA’s Green Power Partnership — a voluntary program aimed at protecting human health and the environment.
Furthering its work in sustainability, the University released a Final Sustainability Plan, committed to recognizing the gravity of the climate crisis and providing a plan for the development of sustainable solutions at Hopkins.
The plan was developed over the past two years with the input of over 2,000 students, faculty, staff and community members. Campus and community engagement was encouraged through workshops, town hall events and an online interactive platform. The plan addresses various factors affecting environmental health — including research, consumption, transportation and the built environment of campus.
The authors of the plan explained that the plan was created through two years of extensive engagement with campus and local community stakeholders.
“The feedback received throughout the engagement process was essential to ensuring that the plan’s priorities reflect the breadth of perspectives across the University — and that the needs and values of our campuses, our local communities, and the global audiences that our teaching and research reach are kept at the forefront,” they wrote.
The released plan began with a letter from the co-chairs of the Climate Action and Sustainability Plan Steering Committee: Director of Sustainability Julian Goresko, Associate Teaching Professor Megan Latshaw and professor Benjamin Zaitchik.
The letter offered thanks to contributors and emphasized the importance of collective action across departments as well as between Hopkins and the wider Baltimore community in order to tackle climate change effectively.
The committee also highlighted the significance of understanding the history of the University’s land and its previous inhabitants in making effective environmental plans for the future.
“This includes acknowledgment that our university is located on the unceded homelands of Indigenous peoples, including the Piscataway and Susquehannock tribes, who served as steward of the natural environment in our region for generations,” they wrote.
The plan's initial goals fall under the Research, Teaching and Scholarship category. This category includes objectives such as enhancing cross-disciplinary collaboration for environmental justice and ensuring that sustainability is integrated into all fields of study on campus.
The new “Campus as a Living Lab” program, which was launched in early 2024, supports the Research, Training and Scholarship objectives by fostering a culture of innovation on campus.
“The program seeks to foster a culture of on-campus sustainability innovation by bringing together researchers, instructors, students, and staff to test sustainability solutions using the University's physical campuses as learning tools,” the plan states.
In order to implement a multi-disciplinary approach to sustainability, the University has launched the Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health (JHPIH). The JHPI will serve as a connective force between different departments and programs on campus, addressing the planetary health crisis through four focus areas — research, education, policy and practice.
The plan also stated the University’s climate action goals. Since achieving a 51% greenhouse gas emission reduction in 2022, the University has now committed to a target of net zero emissions by 2040.
The plan details interim targets along the way to net zero emissions, including using 100% of purchased electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. Other strategies in the plan to make this possible include new construction standards, renewable electricity, energy efficiency, electrification and fuel switching, and low-carbon solutions and offsets.
Additionally, the plan includes a carbon roadmap to help reduce the University’s carbon footprint through feasible means. The roadmap incorporates four crucial steps: planning low-carbon infrastructure, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency, transitioning away from the use of harmful fossil fuels and offsetting the remaining emissions.
Findings in the report also indicated that 90% of the University’s greenhouse emissions come from its buildings, necessitating a way to increase sustainability in the campus’ built environment. As a result, the plan includes incorporating significant carbon footprint planning into the University’s strategy for new building construction.
“Creating and enforcing green building standards will embed sustainability through all stages of every project across the institution, enhance positive outcomes for occupants and the environment, and reduce cost premiums associated with sustainability measures,“ the plan explains.
Strategies to make the construction process more sustainable include increasing efficiency, collaboration with local communities, implementing all electric building standards, advancing healthy and low-carbon design practices and tracking carbon emissions in all future real estate development.
In addition to making sure all spaces owned by or built by Hopkins are environmentally friendly, the plan states that it is equally vital to ensure that spaces leased by the University are aligned with the University’s sustainability goals. As a result, the plan recommends creating sustainability guidelines when entering new leases or renewing existing contracts.
To create more accessible green space on campus and enhance biodiversity, the plan recommends creating a tree inventory which could support Baltimore’s goal of 40% tree cover. The University also hopes to manage its water more efficiently and sustainably by further tracking water use data and potentially creating a Hopkins facility for water reclamation. The University hopes to minimize its waste by 50% by 2030. The plan’s steps to do so include eliminating the sale of bottled water on campus, donating to food pantries and further measuring waste-related data.
Furthermore, the sustainability plan aims to increase sustainable procurement and consumption of food on campus, while obtaining food from local partners. Hopkins hopes to source 40% of Hopkins Dining food locally, including at least 15% from Baltimore businesses by 2030. The University plans to procure its food from environmentally responsible producers and will review vendor sustainability when deciding whether to renew contracts.
“Throughout our business activities, our purchasing decisions present a significant opportunity to align with our sustainability values, which include a greater emphasis on supporting our HopkinsLocal vision and regional economic partnerships,” the plan states.
The final focus of the sustainability plan is transportation. In the city of Baltimore, transportation accounts for 25% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and is a primary contributor to regional air quality.
The University hopes to “establish procurement targets for all-electric vehicle purchases culminating in a 100% requirement by 2030,” and “increase the number of employees using alternative commuting practices 10% by 2030,” while also creating a biannual transportation survey and creating charging stations for electric vehicles. Additional transportation efficiency plans include coordinating with the Maryland Transit Administration and supporting the creation of additional bike lanes by the municipal government.
To ensure the effectiveness of the plan, it will be monitored annually and officially reviewed every five years to ensure that it is making progress toward its goals. Building on existing partnerships with the City of Baltimore and its community, the sustainability plan suggests an increase in initiatives involving environmental justice and the community. The plan suggests that Hopkins has an obligation to the community to prioritize environmental justice in its expenditures, as it is one of Baltimore’s largest spenders.
“It is important for JHU to build on the engagement efforts of the past two years by continuing to involve campus and local community stakeholders in the implementation of the plan,” the plan states. “This will be done through public tracking and reporting on progress, which will communicate our progress and challenges, promote transparency, and inform future updates and planning efforts.”
Editor’s Note, 2024: This article originally stated that Hopkins transportation also accounts for 25% of Baltimore’s greenhouse gas emissions; however, this article has been updated to reflect that transportation account for 25% of the city of Baltimore’s total emissions. The article also stated that University committed to a target of net zero emissions by 2024; the year has been updated to the correct year, 2040. An acronym and a name of a category has also been updated. The News-Letter regrets these errors.
