Strategy Plan for Equitable Climate Mitigation
With generous support from the Hillman Foundation and our Fiscal Sponsor Green Building Alliance, HECC has wrapped up a year-long strategic planning effort. Our pathway forward, the HECC Strategy & Action Plan for Equitable Climate Mitigation, outlines the need and direction for our collaborative and its shared benefits for each institutional member and the region.
Whether HECC Members are leaders expanding existing institutional impact or those advancing new efforts and initiatives, HECC leverages the power of the collaborative to help individuals co-create scalable solutions in an iterative and evolutionary manner. Over 15 years of existence, HECC has advanced opportunities previously thought infeasible. Being part of an impactful and true partnership benefits individuals, organizations, our region, and our planet.
The plan is focused on creating a strategic direction for the 15-year-old HECC collaboration, while simultaneously providing support to individual institutions with existing climate action goals and commitments. The strategic plan was developed with an intentional equity lens – to understand how individual universities as well as the HECC as a collaborative can make their climate action planning efforts benefit all Pittsburghers.
Green Building Alliance (GBA) ‘Green Building Bites’ featuring HECC Strategic Plan Steering Committee members.
As the collaborative looks ahead, strategies have been developed across seven objectives:
Help all universities meet minimum targets
Facilitate accessible knowledge transfer between universities in both operations and research
Build more intentionality on equity and environmental justice
Strengthen City connections
Enhance student connections and experiences
Elevate the power of the collaborative to leverage HECC positioning and influence
Celebrate innovation and wins
But even in the short-term, HECC schools are feeling the benefits of the collaborative well beyond networking and knowledge sharing. Duquesne University is forming their Sustainability Committee to bring together cross-campus leaders, stakeholders, and decision-makers, taking lessons from other local schools who did the same. Robert Morris University was able to count on support of HECC members to position sustainability and climate-action investment to discuss the importance of HECC and share stories applicable to RMU’s climate action journey. As catalytic next steps on climate action, RMU is now committed to joining AASHE and the Pittsburgh 2030 District.
Aligning HECC and the Pittsburgh 2030 District
The Pittsburgh 2030 District’s success stems from its extensive community of educated, purposeful leaders that have the knowledge to positively impact building development and operations throughout the region. The HECC members who are part of the 2030 district total roughly 28.3M sf which is roughly 25% of the total committee properties. One of the strategies outlined in the strategic plan is a recommendation that all university’s join the District and commit their buildings to its climate reduction targets (currently, seven of the 10 schools are Partners in the 2030 District).
Prioritizing Equitable Climate Action
A key objective and through line to the planning effort is the continued dialogue with the HECC member schools on how best to elevate the core connections of climate to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice and create space and voices to advance these topics within HECC moving forward. To more directly address equity and environmental justice in our work, HECC aims to advance strategies in four primary areas: our culture and values; our planning processes; our community connections; and our education and knowledge transfer. A few specific strategies outlined in the plan include:
Acknowledging both the positive outcomes and potential negative impacts of climate action, working to avoid and minimize the latter.
Supporting and advancing efforts and programs that help to translate HECC work and climate-focused research to communities in a means they can engage with and access it.
Thoughtfully connecting to the work of nonprofits, thinks tanks, and community groups whose missions are aligned to these issues.
More about the Planning Process
In 2022 HECC has awarded a $75,000 grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to support the continued advancement of this collaboration on climate action. Green Building Alliance (GBA) is the grant managing organization and Steven Baumgartner of BUSS is leading this planning effort as a consultant to GBA.
In 2022, the Higher Education Climate Consortium (HECC) of Pittsburgh is advancing its first ever strategic plan, focused on creating a strategic direction for the 14-year-old collaborative, while simultaneously providing the support to institutions who have historically had less capacity to advance imperative climate action. This effort will be also developed with an intentional equity lens, understanding how individual and collaborative investment can work for all scales of universities, Pittsburghers, and their wider communities.
In addition to the Hillman Foundation’s support, Chatham University has received a $10,000 grant on HECC’s behalf through Second Nature’s Acceleration Fund. A national nonprofit committed to accelerating climate action in and through higher education, Second Nature’s Acceleration Fund is dedicated to supporting climate action activities driven by colleges and universities. The Fund supports projects that advance decarbonization and/or campus-community partnerships and resilience goals. Announced at the April 2022 Climate Leadership Summit, the Acceleration Fund grant will support HECC graduate student fellows to advance the HECC strategic planning effort over the next year with various data, communication, and/or engagement.