Joe Trumpey Serves on U-M Carbon Neutrality Commission

The President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality (PCCN) has submitted its final report and recommendations for U‑M to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. It includes 50 recommendations to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions across the Flint, Dearborn and Ann Arbor campuses, including Michigan Medicine.

Stamps Associate Professor and sustainable design expert Joe Trumpey, who also has a professorial appointment in Natural Resources at the School for Environment and Sustainability, served on the PCCN, where he provided leadership to the teams addressing the role of Campus Culture and Communication.

The PCCN plan is ambitious and bold, both of which are essential to meet the urgency of the crisis. Through implementation of the carbon neutrality plan, U‑M will provide a model for taking early action to avoid the most adverse impacts of climate change. The plan highlights a wide range of carbon reduction strategies from large infrastructure investments to electrify heating and cooling, to fleet electrification and food service diet shifts. These on-campus strategies will be combined with off-campus activities, such as renewable power purchase agreements to achieve carbon neutrality goals. 

The proposed actions are now in the hands of university leadership for further analysis and decision-making. Schlissel, the Board of Regents and other university leaders, upon reviewing the report, will determine U‑M’s immediate, short-term and long-term climate actions and plans.

During the Fall 2020 semester, Trumpey offered his thoughts on the role of effective communication and culture-building in carbon neutrality efforts. 

“It’s not just how we get to carbon neutrality,” he said. ​“How do we make sure everybody understands the importance of it and takes that out into every corner of the state, country, and planet that we reach into?”

Carbon neutrality commission submits final report and recommendations | University Record