Chevrolet buying carbon credits from U.S. colleges, universities
by Cleantech Canada Staff
Ball State University, Valencia College first two post-secondary institutions to sign up for program
DETROIT—Chevrolet is launching a new greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction program that will see it buy carbon credits from colleges and universities in the United States.
According to the Detroit automaker, Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and Valencia College in Orlando, Fla., are the first post-secondary institutions to register for the program that will see Chevrolet buy carbon credits for GHG reduction upgrades undertaken at their respective campuses.
“Historically, campuses purchased other organizations’ carbon credits to help achieve carbon neutrality,” Eban Goodstein, director of Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy in New York state, said in a statement released by General Motors (GM).
“Now they are earning revenues for the carbon reductions achieved right on their own sites, where the long-term clean energy benefits lie for their community.”
Chevrolet said the program marks the first time college campuses will be able to use carbon performance methodologies to make money via GHG reductions that result from increased energy efficiency.
With schools across the U.S. increasing their energy efficiency efforts through new equipment and the use of renewables, Chevrolet said it will buy and retire carbon credits from reduction strategies.
“Electric cars like the Chevrolet Volt and Spark EV drawing electricity from a cleaner energy infrastructure is a win-win for our customers and the environment,” said David Tulauskas, GM’s director of sustainability.
“The Chevrolet carbon-reduction initiative is about supporting the ingenious ways people are reducing their carbon emissions, like the efforts of leaders driving the higher education sustainability movement.”
Citing data from the not-for-profit Forest Trends Ecosystem Marketplace, Chevrolet said it has been the largest U.S. corporate buyer of voluntary carbon credits by volume over the last two years.
This latest initiative is part of the brand’s voluntary goal set in 2010 to prevent up to eight million metric tons of carbon emissions from entering the earth’s atmosphere.
Florida’s Valencia College will use the funds from its carbon credit sales to Chevrolet for additional energy efficiency retrofits, while Ball State’s project involves selling some carbon credits from installing the largest geothermal system at a U.S. college.
