Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.69
Liaison Margaret Lo
Submission Date Dec. 16, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Ball State University
IN-2: Innovation 2

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Robert Koester
Director of CERES
Center for Energy Research/Education/Service (CERES)
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Title or keywords related to the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Voluntary Carbon Market, Capitalization, Carbon Credits

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:

For the last several years, Ball State University has piloted the development and implementation of a new methodology by which colleges and universities can qualify their carbon reductions for transaction in the voluntary carbon market.

This work was stimulated by the commitment of funding from the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors under the banner of the Clean Energy Campus Campaign (as a part of its 8 million-metric-ton Carbon Reduction Initiative). Under this initiative, Chevrolet committed to the purchase of carbon reduction credits from colleges and universities with the intent of retiring them against the climate and not using them to offset its own corporate admissions.

Developing the methodology, testing its application and implementing its use involved collaboration with Chevrolet, Climate Neutral Business Network (CNBN), Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), and Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF). Once operational the methodology was adopted by ten other colleges universities.


A brief description of any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation (if not reported above):

As result, there now exists a methodology accredited by Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) for use by colleges and universities in establishing the validity and verification of their carbon reductions for transaction in the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM). Such transaction enables those colleges and universities to cultivate a line of capital resource for driving further carbon reductions.

Now that the piloting work has been completed, a new agreement among a handful of the participating universities has been established with Second Nature (SN) as agent for the future aggregation of carbon reductions by colleges and universities for transaction in the VCM.

This new enterprise will permit some 700 signatories to the ACUPCC to embark upon participation in VCM as a way to aggregate funds to drive their carbon reductions more deeply, more quickly.


A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise:
Which of the following STARS subcategories does the innovation most closely relate to? (Select all that apply up to a maximum of five):
Yes or No
Curriculum No
Research Yes
Campus Engagement No
Public Engagement No
Air & Climate Yes
Buildings Yes
Dining Services No
Energy Yes
Grounds No
Purchasing No
Transportation No
Waste No
Water No
Coordination, Planning & Governance Yes
Diversity & Affordability No
Health, Wellbeing & Work No
Investment No

Other topic(s) that the innovation relates to that are not listed above:
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The website URL where information about the innovation is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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