President Valerie Smith underscored Swarthmore’s commitment to climate action in September 2019 by signing the Sustainable Development Goals Climate Emergency Letter, adding the College to the growing list of more than 160 higher and further education institutions around the world that have collectively declared a global climate emergency. According to President Smith, “The climate crisis poses an unprecedented challenge to our global society — a challenge that we must meet with urgency and action. Institutions of higher learning are uniquely positioned to facilitate informed discussions of this crisis and ways it can be addressed.”

The College has committed to achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2035. In support of this commitment, we have developed a comprehensive energy plan, called To Zero By Thirty-Five (20X35), which charts our path to eliminating our Scope 1 and 2 emissions on campus. 

Swarthmore is working to address the climate crisis in a variety of ways. Following then-President Rebecca Chopp’s signature of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (now the Carbon Leadership Commitment) in 2010, Swarthmore developed the College’s first greenhouse gas inventory and convened a Climate Action Planning Committee to create a Climate Action Plan. 

The College’s ambitious energy plan, To Zero By Thirty-Five (20X35), charts a transformative path to efficient, combustion-free energy on campus. By 2035, buildings across campus will be connected to a new heating and cooling geoexchange system. Powered by renewable energy, the process extracts heat from buildings during the summer and stores it underground for use in the winter — all while producing zero carbon emissions. Together with ongoing energy efficiency improvements across campus buildings, onsite solar and off-site renewable energy procurement, and a standby electricity generation plant, the College is positioned to significantly reduce our carbon emissions and reach carbon neutrality by 2035.

In order to support emissions reductions on campus, educate our campus community, and support broader policy action in the face of the climate crisis, Swarthmore implemented an internal Carbon Charge Program in 2016. This award-winning program consists of three components: an internal carbon fee and air travel carbon fee on College departments, and a shadow price used in capital planning decisions. Learn more here.

In order to reach its ambitious goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035, the College will need to implement strategies to reduce Scope 3 emissions as much as possible. Scope 3 emissions are those not directly controlled by the institution but considered critical to the College’s mission and operations— they can include things like employee commuting and College-sponsored travel. Learn more about the College’s Scope 3 Emissions Strategy.