WHO WE ARE
The City of Pittsburgh and the higher education institutions that call it home share people, infrastructure, research, goals, and more. Since 2008, the Higher Education Climate Consortium (HECC) has played a critical role in bringing the Pittsburgh region’s higher education institutions together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions individually and collectively. HECC brings together 10 institutions and the City of Pittsburgh to help accelerate the City’s climate and resiliency planning efforts.
Officially designated in 2008, HECC was originally convened by Green Building Alliance (GBA, who also initially facilitated the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative). HECC structure has always allowed its higher education partners to meet regularly, build relationships, share stories, create greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, and advance climate strategies with a vision of future regional carbon neutrality.
As HECC evolved, the universities took over facilitation in 2012 with rotating co-chairs (always balancing smaller and larger university representation) and hiring 5 separate Student Conservation Association Green Cities Corps fellows who supported convening between 2012 and 2016.
Since 2018, HECC rededicated itself with a climate action focus, and has continued to meet quarterly, continuing benchmarking, and sharing stories, best practices, and a vision of a carbon neutral Pittsburgh.
The Role of Higher Education in Pittsburgh’s Climate Story
Pittsburgh is known as an “eds and meds” city, which speaks to the importance of educational institutions to the region’s economy
With a large economic contribution comes a large environmental footprint: 18.2% of the city’s Greenhouse Gas emissions are from the higher education sector
Recognizing the impact and opportunity of the sector, HECC was designated in 2008 to ensure that higher education was included as a key aspect in the larger Pittsburgh Climate Initiative