Learn more about the solutions Rutgers will implement to address climate change.
Office of Climate Action
Climate Action at Rutgers
Working towards a more just, sustainable, and resilient future for the planet and all its residents.
Learn how students, faculty, and staff are leading climate action across Rutgers.
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Core Values
Climate Justice
Address legacies of inequality, ensuring processes and outcomes prioritize historically disadvantaged groups and minimize barriers to self-determination for all community members.
Civic Responsibility
Be of service in all communities to which Rutgers claims membership by building internal, local, national, and global partnerships based in mutual respect and trust.
Actionable Scholarship
Integrate Rutgers’ operational and academic strengths to achieve our climate goals and use our campuses as living laboratories to innovate, test, and communicate climate solutions.
News and Updates
As of 2021, scope 1 emissions made up 46% of Rutgers’ total emissions. In order to reach our goal of carbon neutrality by 2040, rapid changes need to be made each year to cut down on these emissions. According to the Climate Action Plan, Rutgers’ scope 1 emissions include combustion of fossil fuels in university-owned buildings, equipment, and vehicles, fugitive emissions from refrigeration, and emissions from on-campus agriculture or livestock husbandry.
In the US, transportation produces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector, including electricity and agriculture. Since transportation, and especially road travel, is a large contributor to transportation emissions, it is important to understand the what vehicles, systems, and behaviors contribute to transportation emissions broadly and at Rutgers. With this understanding, we can take meaningful action to address climate change.
A major issue throughout the holidays is waste. “Over 70 billion pounds of food waste reaches our landfills every year, contributing to methane emissions, wasting energy and resources across the food supply chain” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. According to The Ecology Center, the United States sees a 25% increase in waste between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. That’s 1 million extra tons of waste! What does waste have to do with climate change and what can we do about it?