On the morning of Dec. 1, an e-bulletin was sent around to the U of T community confirming that we had signed on to the made-in-Ontario sustainability pledge, titled Ontario Universities: Committed to a Greener World. Critics say this isn’t enough, deeming it a watered-down version of the Presidents Climate Initiative.
The original PCI was drafted in the United States, and now has 615 signatories there and 13 in Canada, most of them in British Columbia.
In Ontario, Trinity College at U of T signed it, but the initiative has been met with resistance from the Council of Ontario Universities, and in particular, U of T’s president David Naylor.
Critics of the Ontario version say it is less effective and less binding than the original version. Joanna Dafoe, who helped establish the UTSU Sustainability Commission, has been a strong advocate for the older, nation-wide PCI. She criticizes the newer, Ontario version as “inconsequential for reducing the university’s carbon footprint.”
A line-by-line comparison of the two versions shows how they differ in key respects. Unlike the older version, Ontario’s rewrite does not specifically address climate change, but speaks broadly about how universities could advance sustainability. It does not include mention of greenhouse gas emissions targets, it omits Ontario colleges, and it advocates a voluntary rather than regulatory or binding framework.
The Canadian PCI requires “a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions.” What Dafoe is waiting for, she says, “is the willingness on the part of the administration to make a sustained effort to reduce emissions.”
Naylor’s argument against the Canadian PCI is that U of T’s campus is too large to accurately measure greenhouse gas emissions: “It’s like saying you’re going to measure the chemistry of chicken soup,” Naylor told The Varsity in an interview last April, calling the PCI “more show business than substance.”
However, Dafoe points out that U of T has already measured greenhouse gas emissions on campus, through a building-by-building inventory of emissions, complied by the university’s Sustainability Office. Measurements of emissions from utilities, waste, and transportation are available on the SO website, she notes.
Danny Harvey, a climate scientist and professor of geography, says there are several ways U of T could reduce its carbon footprint. Creating energy-efficient facilities should be the top priority, he says. Some university administrators are wary of the costs associated with substantial building retrofits and green design, but Harvey points out that universities could see significant financial savings over the long term from energy-efficiency retrofits and better design.
Other student leaders appear to be split over the COU’s position. The Canadian Federation of Students and Sierra Youth Coalition are critical of the Ontario PCI as committing only to the “status quo.” In contrast, Dan Moulton, president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance is quoted in the COU press release as saying, “Ontario’s students appreciate this pledge.”
Dafoe adds, “the adoption of a comprehensive sustainability framework for the entire university is really important in terms of making environmental gains on campus.” She is skeptical whether that will be accomplished if the Ontario universities set the bar low for themselves with their own version of the PCI.
