Boundary Setting

CENTRAL CHALLENGE: What emissions should be covered by the Yale’s carbon charge?

In defining the boundary of the carbon charge, Yale uses emissions scopes from the World Resources Institute’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol[1], which is the most commonly used standard for GHG accounting. The three scopes of emissions include:

Scope 1: Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. This includes the onsite combustion of fossil fuels from power plants and the vehicle fleet.

Scope 2: Indirect GHG emissions from consumption of purchased electricity, heat or steam.

Scope 3: Other indirect emissions, which were further divided into two subcategories - emissions for which Yale has operational control (Scope 3A) and those for which Yale does not (Scope 3B).

Scope 3A. Emissions embedded in supplies, materials, food purchased by Yale, student/staff/faculty travel paid for by Yale, on-campus construction, and waste disposal.

Scope 3B. Emissions embedded in commuting, off-campus housing, and student/staff/faculty travel not paid for by Yale.

The pilot covered Scope 1 and 2 emissions from building energy use. Most buildings at Yale get their electricity, steam, and chilled water from the University’s own power plants (Central, Sterling, and West), with a few purchasing electricity and natural gas directly from local utility providers. Both emissions from Yale’s own power plants and energy purchased from the grid were included in the pilot. Yale calculated these emissions by applying campus-wide emissions factors, which eliminate the differences between energy sources such as the Yale power plants and local utilities. This adjustment is important because units have no control over where their energy comes from.

In the future, Yale plans to incorporate Scope 1 emissions from transportation, which includes vehicles owned and operated by the university. The Task Force also recommended that Yale incorporate some Scope 3 emissions into the carbon charge down the road. Specifically, it suggested looking into Scope 3 emissions controlled by the university such as those from faculty and staff’s air travel and those embedded in construction materials (e.g., the use of cement).

Discussion Questions

• Should Yale include Scope 3 emissions from faculty and staff’s air travel and construction? The Task Force mentioned that “inclusion of Scope 3A activities (Scope 3 activities controlled by the university) raises additional complications, such as how to treat those activities which include overhead charges (e.g., supplies and materials purchased by Yale)”. How would Yale address this concern?