Meeting Notes: Office of Sustainability Initial Meeting

• The office uses a balanced scorecard approach to tracking and reporting sustainability metrics.
• Angles examined by data: customer focused, internal, financial, organizational
• Kilowatt hour reduction data is available.
• Utility costs are tracked.
• The office will be rolling out a "sustainability pledge" for students, staff, and faculty to take.
• Greenhouse gas emissions data is available back to 1980.
• Other items tracked: commuting practices, waste reduction, composting, sustainable purchasing
• UW Medicine tracks some of its data separately, but does report certain pieces of data back to the University. There is also some data overlap.
• Information on sustainability rewards the University has acquired is also maintained.
• NOT tracked:
  • Engagement of students/staff/faculty
  • Certain purchasing standards, such as EPEAT or Energy Star, are promoted, but may not be tracked.
• Question: What would the UW like to do with the numbers it tracks?
  • (at least for this department) reporting for Presidents Climate Commitment - these reports need to be supported by specific metrics.
• There are only four departments reporting data for sure, including Facilities and Transportation Services.
• A copy of the dashboard that the department is using will be sent along so that I can get a sense of what's being tracked routinely. Some other reports may also be included.

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