University of Pittsburgh
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

The University of Pittsburgh’s sustainability journey dates back to 1990, with commitments, activities, and engagement deepening and increasing over the past three decades. In 2018, the Pitt Sustainability Plan set the University’s sustainability goals and strategies, further cementing sustainability as a core value for Pitt. Since then, Pitt students, faculty, staff, and partners have made noteworthy progress towards creating a more sustainable culture, campus, and university.

The 2018-22 Progress Report on the Pitt Sustainability Plan recognizes our collective progress on each of the Pitt Sustainability Plan’s 68 distinct and ambitious goals.

Key Takeaways:

>> We celebrate our shared achievement of 6 goals alongside the 43 goals we have that are on target or on track to achieve.
>> We acknowledge that our headway on 16 goals is off track – and progress on 3 goals is unclear.
>> With sustainability as a core value in the Plan for Pitt, the momentum behind our pursuit of Pitt Sustainability Plan goals and strategies is clear.

Since 2018, we have rethought, reframed, and even set new University sustainability goals. The most visible example of the latter is the University’s 2020 commitment to achieving carbon neutrality for the Pittsburgh campus by 2037, which is reinforced by the 2022 Pitt Climate Action Plan.

Our shared, strengthened work combatting the climate emergency exemplifies how sustainability goals and strategies can change over time, reflecting new realities in our work balancing equity, environment, and economics so current and future generations can thrive.

Together, we are creating a more sustainable future for all.

On August 16, 2023, the University of Pittsburgh and Vesper Energy officially cut the ribbon on the Gaucho Solar project. Built on 68 acres on the border of Findlay Township (Allegheny County) and Independence Township (Beaver County), it was the largest solar project in Southwestern Pennsylvania when it came online — and remains one of the top 3 largest solar projects in Western Pennsylvania, with about 55,000 solar panels generating electricity.

The 20-megawatt solar farm sits near Pittsburgh International Airport and was constructed by Vesper Energy, which partnered with the University of Pittsburgh, who is the sole offtaker via a power purchase agreement. Still in its first year of operation, the Gaucho Solar project expected to produce 35,700 megawatt-hours of electricity annually – all of which will be purchased by Pitt over the next 20 years. Equivalent to approximately 18% of the Pittsburgh campus’s electricity usage per year, Pitt's partnership with Vesper's Gaucho solar farm is helping Pitt reach its goal to achieve campus carbon neutrality by 2037.

The University’s partnership with Vesper on the Gaucho Solar array demonstrates Pitt’s commitment to not just purchasing renewable electricity, but purchasing local renewable electricity that has cascading local economic and environmental benefits, including helping reduce local and global air pollutants.

This production will reduce Pitt’s greenhouse gas emissions by 15,452 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent of taking nearly 3,330 gasoline-fueled cars off the road. Combined with future committed use of local hydropower, at least 42% of the University’s future electricity will come from dedicated, local, renewable energy sources.

The Gaucho Solar project will also save the University millions of dollars over the contract term due to solar’s low comparative cost. The ability to directly purchase clean energy will generate long-term cost and environmental savings, require no upfront capital or maintenance costs from Pitt, and give the University price certainty throughout the contract.

Students had learning opportunities throughout the construction process — and the facility offers student educational opportunities into the future. The pollinator-friendly landscaping has an important environmental impact beyond the site, improving water quality, reducing erosion, and creating critical habitat and food for birds, bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.

The University of Pittsburgh is proud to have played a critical role in helping bring one of the largest solar farms in Western Pennsylvania to fruition – and have been advising other organizations in following our lead, as they and the University of Pittsburgh continue to advance more solar in Pennsylvania, joining the other 40,000 plus rooftop and utility-scale solar installations in the Commonwealth in using the sun to power our places and fuel our inspiration.

Launched in November 2021, the University of Pittsburgh's Covestro Circular Economy Program aims to embed circular design principles into the graduate curriculum through an innovative training program.

Pitt's Covestro Circular Economy Program was the first graduate-level circular design academic program in the U.S. to specifically address the challenge of global waste and material use. The program creates opportunities for the research, education, and innovative advancement of circular economy principles that begin with academia and fuel real-world solutions designed to save the planet.

Initial funding helped establish a transdisciplinary academic, research, innovation and cooperative employment initiative to prepare students with circular economy training and expertise to carry into academia, industry, government and NGOs. Pitt and Covestro are also seeking to collaborate with corporations, foundations, and governments to expand the program’s reach and potential.

Pitt students earn a PhD in a home department, while also gaining unique expertise in circular economy principles, informed by Covestro LLC’s successes in this area, and ultimately create circular, sustainable products and service solutions.

Current Pitt PhD participants are from the home departments of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering as well as Civil and Environmental Engineering. Departmental participation is expected to grow as the program grows.

This circular economy vision aligns the organizational objectives of both Covestro and the University of Pittsburgh. In 2020, in line with Covestro’s sustainability roadmap using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a guide, Covestro announced a global corporate vision to become fully circular, focusing on alternative feedstocks, advanced recycling technologies, renewable energy, and collaborations. Sustainability is a core value at the University of Pittsburgh and Pitt's Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation’s mission is to catalyze sustainability research and education. Uniting these organizations is a force multiplier in advancing the circular economy.

The dual vision of Covestro and the University of Pittsburgh is being realized across 3 core pillars: Academics, Research, and a transdisciplinary Circular Economy Innovation program housed at Pitt.

These pillars deliver compelling arguments to support the creation of a new scientific field that will produce a demonstrable impact on what we produce, how we produce it, how we train future leaders, and how we live.

Relatedly, in early 2024, Pitt launched the new Circular Economy Certificate, which is open to all graduate students and professionals seeking to develop their skills and knowledge of circular economy. The certificate program was developed using current research and recommended skill sets – and takes an interdisciplinary approach to guiding students through the process of understanding and applying circular economy principles. Several elective options are included in the Circular Economy Certificate, and students are welcome to work with their advisor to tailor course work to their areas of expertise.

2018-22 PROGRESS REPORT ON THE PITT SUSTAINABILITY PLAN

• 2018-22 Progress Report on the Pitt Sustainability Plan webpage - https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/progress-report/

• 2018-22 Progress Report on the Pitt Sustainability Plan announcement - https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/2018-22-progress-report-on-the-pitt-sustainability-plan/

PITT VESPER GAUCHO SOLAR FARM

• Pitt's Vesper Gaucho partnership is mentioned in STARS Credit OP-6, but not in the clean & renewable numbers (it will show up in FY24 data)

• Pitt Solar webpage - https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/campus-culture/facilities/energy-emissions/#solar

• 2023 Pittwire on Pitt Vesper ribbon cutting - https://www.pitt.edu/pittwire/features-articles/gaucho-solar-farm-opening

• 2022 Pitt Vesper Construction begins, including video - https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/construction-begins-pitt-partnered-gaucho-solar/

• 2020 Pitt's Vesper Gaucho partnership announcement - https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/pitts-commitment-to-local-solar-energy/

PITT COVESTRO CIRCULAR ECONOMY PROGRAM & GRADUATE CERTIFICATE

• Pitt's Covestro Circular Economy Program Webpage - https://www.sustainabilityinstitute.pitt.edu/education/covestro-circular-economy-program

• Pitt's Covestro Circular Economy Launch Webpage - https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/circulareconomy

• Pitt's Covestro Circular Economy Program Announcement - https://news.engineering.pitt.edu/covestro-llc-and-university-of-pittsburgh-collaborate-to-establish-groundbreaking-circular-economy-program/

• Pitt Circular Economy Certificate - https://www.sustainabilityinstitute.pitt.edu/education/circular-economy-certificate