Carnegie Mellon's president has made a formal commitment of climate leadership on CMU's campus by signing a Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitment. 

Learn more about CMU's climate commitment, goals, and actions toward carbon neutrality. 

Race to Zero

Powered by the UN Environment Programme, EAUC, and Second Nature, the Race to Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and action in the education sector. Signatories, including Carnegie Mellon, pledge to reach (net) zero GHGs as soon as possible, and by mid-century at the latest, in line with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5C. 

To measure progress in the environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainability, Carnegie Mellon participates in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) program. 

STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. CMU has completed six reports, most recently earning a Gold rating. 

Carnegie Mellon is a founding partner of the Pittsburgh 2030 District's expansion to Oakland and continues to participate in the program.

This internationally recognized, locally driven strategic initiative of the Green Building Alliance (GBA) supports building owners and managers as they strive toward 50% reductions in energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions by 2030, while improving indoor air quality. 

View city-wide progress on GBA's Pittsburgh 2030 District website. 

The university's Institutional Master Plan (IMP) outlines the long-term vision for the evolution of campus facilities and physical spaces. 

The plan is updated every 10 years, and each update involves several years of dialogue and input from internal and external stakeholders to ensure that CMU ismeeting the needs of the community. Planning incorporates industry best practices and sustainability considerations, as well as the Simonds Principles, which CMU adopted in 2013 to help guide new campus construction and major renovations.

View the most recent IMP on the Campus Design and Facility Development (CDFD) webpage. 

Carnegie Mellon, in 2015, joined 218 campuses representing over 3.3 million students across the country committed to take action on climate by signing the American Campuses Act on Climate Pledge:

“As institutions of higher education, we applaud the progress already made to promote clean energy and climate action as we seek a comprehensive, ambitious agreement at the upcoming United Nations Climate Negotiations in Paris. We recognize the urgent need to act now to avoid irreversible costs to our global community’s economic prosperity and public health and are optimistic that world leaders will reach an agreement to secure a transition to a low carbon future. Today our school pledges to accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy while enhancing sustainable and resilient practices across our campus.”   

In 2016, CMU issued a statement on recent climate actions the university took to support its pledge. 

In 2010 Carnegie Mellon signed on to the ISCN Sustainable Campus Charter, committing to follow and support five calls to action: 

1. Embed sustainability in all aspects of the university (governance, operations, learning, research, community)
2. Create an environment that cultivates resilient, empowered, caring and engaged students, staff, and faculty who will contribute to the health of people and places.
3. Engage with external partners, industry, government and civil society to disseminate knowledge, research and best practices to benefit the communities in which we serve.

1. Deepen and broaden the collaboration that happens between members of the network to accelerate collective action.
2. Ensure that the network is significantly inspiring international dialogue and debate to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.