Harvard Says It’s Going Green. How Much Is Hot Air?

According to its latest annual sustainability report, Harvard’s net greenhouse gas emissions held constant for the seventh consecutive year in 2022.

The University has reduced campus emissions by more than 25 percent since 2006 despite a 19 percent increase in building square footage over the same period. While these figures indicate progress, Harvard needs to clear the air regarding how much.

It’s worth noting that net greenhouse gas emissions — the metric that has flatlined — represent total emissions minus the effect of offsets, or counterbalancing investments in carbon removal.

While offsets are not inherently problematic, they often act as get-out-of-jail-free cards that allow unscrupulous institutions to deflect scrutiny away from dirty practices. Offsets may or may not actually reduce emissions; for example, some institutions count investments in carbon capture ventures as emissions-offsetting, though the technology remains nascent and may never become operational.

Before we can truly celebrate Harvard’s years of flatlined net emissions, the University must publish its portfolio of offsets to demonstrate that it will actually achieve its emissions reduction pledges. And, in the longer run, Harvard must follow through on its promise to render its operations fossil-free by 2050 with all due speed.

Ultimately, though, Harvard’s emissions represent only a drop in the bucket of a world still hooked on carbon. Efforts to curb emissions within Harvard’s gates must inspire — rather than absorb — zeal for doing so beyond them.

To this end, Harvard must continue to mobilize its people, money, and research in service of a cleaner future.

Harvard positions its graduates to make an impact. When it comes to a threat as existential as climate change, it’s essential that this impact be positive. Graduates should not enter careers that exacerbate the climate crisis, and they’d do the world a service by entering ones that actively combat it.

To incentivize such career aspirations, the Mignone Center for Career Success should sever ties with fossil fuel companies and instead steer students toward firms advancing the frontier of sustainability. This effort must extend beyond the College, as many a Harvard Law School graduate has taken their top-rate legal education to a firm that shields an oil company from accountability.

When it comes to the University’s bountiful coffers, Harvard should put its money where its mouth is. The University should publish information regarding the full scope of the emissions generated across its supply chain and the private holdings contained in its endowment. As with flatlined net emissions, we cannot fully celebrate Harvard’s commitment to divest from the endowment’s holdings in fossil fuels without a glimpse under the hood.

Still, what we have already glimpsed does not instill confidence. Rather than investing surreptitiously in operations linked to the degradation of the Brazilian rainforest, the Harvard Management Company might consider funding efforts to combat environmental injustice in the greater Boston area, especially where University operations directly contribute to the problem.

Finally, Harvard must ensure its research — the most powerful weapon in its arsenal — can be wielded well in the fight against climate change. To preserve the integrity of climate research at the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability and beyond, the University must prohibit the fossil fuel industry from funding studies on climate change. In addition, researchers should disclose non-funding ties to fossil fuel companies, including previous employment.

Charity begins at home — so does fighting climate change. Before tomorrow’s winter feels like today’s fall, Harvard must redouble its commitment to sustainability. By clarifying its own impacts on the environment and redirecting its people toward greener efforts, Harvard can spark a broader worldwide commitment to fight the climate crisis on every front.

Until then, it will remain hard to say how much of Harvard’s efforts on emissions are just hot air.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

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