Climate change has become a prominent issue in recent years, due to record-breaking warmer seasons and decreasing precipitation levels. To address some of the challenges posed by climate change, universities and major companies around the world have been developing sustainability guidelines to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. For example, Penn State University has published a greenhouse gas emissions report since 2018 to quantify their carbon footprint by applying the University Greenhouse Gas Emissions inventory protocol to college-scale data. The university found that ever since implementing the GHG inventory back in 2018, most sectors, in particular, natural gas and commuter vehicles, have seen a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. In this exploratory study, we aim to summarize university-level guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions since 2018 and compare that data with survey efforts on student perceptions on sustainability. This approach aims to integrate student perspectives into higher education sustainability practices and guidelines while also analyzing trends in greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sustainability at Penn State University