Marketing and Communication to Stakeholders

CENTRAL CHALLENGE: How to create continuous stakeholder buy-in for the carbon charge?

Throughout the pilot, the Carbon Charge team sought to engage closely with the participants. The engagement process started with an invitation letter sent from the Steering Committee on behalf of the Provost to the head of the 20 selected administrative units, requesting their participation and appointment of a representative to administer the pilot. The project recommended the nomination of Lead Administrators or Operational Managers due to their extensive knowledge of finances and operations, and most of the nominees fit these profiles.

A period of two weeks then followed to address all questions and concerns before the units agreed to participate in the pilot. The representatives then participated in an orientation and bi-monthly meetings with the carbon charge project staff, in which they reviewed the utility bill, received advice and support, and provided feedback on the project. At the end of the pilot the representatives took part in two interviews, an exit survey and a focus group to help evaluate the carbon charge.

Since the nomination process put the spotlight on selected managers, the resulting actions might have been driven by a sense of personal responsibility and motivation rather than the price signal of the carbon charge itself (see the Evaluating the results section for further discussion on this issue).

The Project Team also had difficulty balancing their role of “regulator” and “supporter”—whether to just send the price signal or provide hands-on support to participants with their energy projects, the latter of which required much more time and expertise in energy management. While the team could have benefited from extra staff, within the constraints they turned to experts on campus, including faculty in environmental economics and staff with expertise in financial and energy management. While this was time-consuming, it has helped engage a diverse set of stakeholders, built support for the carbon charge, and created momentum for the next phase of the project.

Discussion Questions:

• As the carbon charge extends to the whole university, there will be diminished spotlight effect on building managers, which may reduce their motivation to take leadership actions. How can Yale replicate the success in engaging building managers from the pilot? Will the creation of "energy champions" help?