Williams College Sets Goal to Reduce Greenhouse Gases by 2010

By Brian K. Sullivan

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Williams College, a liberal-arts school in Massachusetts, pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990-91 levels by 2020.

The goal is to bring emissions down to 10 percent less than the levels in 1990-91, college President Morton Shapiro said in a statement today. Shapiro said his staff and the trustees voted to support the effort at the Williamstown, Massachusetts, school, home to the oldest continuing alumni association in the U.S.

``Reducing the growth in greenhouse gas emissions will require a worldwide effort, in which Williams should play a leading role,'' said Shapiro, who has been president of the school since 2000. ``We do that perhaps most effectively by example in pursuing a goal that is among the most ambitious of any college or university.''

The decision is the result of work by a committee that Shapiro appointed to study the issue last year. Williams, along with Harvard University, Stanford University and Dartmouth College received the best ratings for environmental policies and investment practices in a study of the richest U.S. higher- education institutions.

The school had increased its energy consumption by 50 percent since 1990-91, The Williams emissions committee said in a report. The college's emissions increased 44 percent increase in the same period.

The panel's recommendations included better managing growth of the campus, developing effective conservation programs and investing in local renewable energy projects such as solar panels and wind turbines.

Endowment

Williams is a four-year college with about 2,124 undergraduate students. Tuition, room, board and fees cost $42,650 this year. The school has an endowment of $1.5 billion, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers in Washington.

The college was the only school to earn A's in all three investing categories examined in a study of university environmental and investment policies. The study was conducted by the Sustainable Endowments Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, an affiliate of the nonprofit consulting group Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in New York.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: January 24, 2007 18:30 EST

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