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Goals

U-M is committed to achieving carbon neutrality, advancing global sustainability, and ensuring environmental justice — while fostering a shared culture of sustainability.

A universitywide approach

  • Carbon Neutrality

    • 2040 — eliminate direct, on-campus greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1).
    • 2025 — reduce emissions from purchased power (Scope 2) to net zero.
    • 2025 — establish goals for a wide range of indirect emission sources (Scope 3).
    • 2050 — achieve a net-zero endowment.

  • Additional Ann Arbor Campus Goals (est. 2011)

    • 2025 — reduce landscape chemical applications by 40% (achieved in 2019).
    • 2025 — reduce carbon output per passenger trip by 30% (reduction to date: 0%).
    • 2025 — reduce waste sent to landfill by 40% (reduction to date: 10%).
    • 2025 — purchase 20% of U-M food from local and sustainable sources (reduction to date: 19%).

U-M efforts align with UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidance:

  • U-M is on pace to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2025, which exceeds the IPCC's guidance to reduce emissions by 45 percent by 2030.
  • U-M committed to eliminating 100 percent of Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040 — ten years ahead of the IPCC's global net-zero target.

For more up-to-date information on how U-M is progressing toward carbon neutrality, visit the Priorities & Progress page.

FY23 Climate Action Report

Moving plans forward for renewable purchased electricity, widespread geo-exchange heating and cooling systems, innovative financing mechanisms and more.

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Visit the Priorities & Progress page for more details on a number of current efforts. Or, for analysis that informs U-M carbon neutrality work going forward, read the President's Commission on Carbon Neutrality's final report and internal analysis team reports.