History of Duke University's Carbon Neutrality Commitment
In 2007, Duke University committed to being carbon neutral in 2024. This commitment led to the development of Duke's first Climate Action Plan in 2009. This plan provided recommendations to reduce emissions from energy used on campus and emissions from transportation-related activities (employee commuting, air travel, and Duke-owned vehicles). It also provided recommendations on carbon offsets, which led to the creation of the Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative. Lastly, the CAP also focused on ways to improve sustainability across Duke by creating recommendations for education and campus-community outreach.
Nearly a decade since 2009, Duke University began updating its Climate Action Plan to assess progress to-date, review assumptions that may have changed and consider new strategies that could push Duke towards carbon neutrality in 2024. With a goal of full transparency, the University sought input from internal and external stakeholders through an open comment period on Duke's draft CAP Update. These comments were reviewed and responded to in the Climate Action Plan Update or the Response to Comment document. Through operational changes, energy efficiency upgrades, carbon offset retirement and more, Duke University accomplished its neutrality milestone in 2024.
To learn more about carbon neutrality, please visit the Greenhouse Gas Emissions page.