Arizona State University Sustainability Operations Fiscal Year 2020 Review

Sustainability Operations Arizona State University | Fiscal Year 2020 Review

Fourth in Sierra Magazine Coolest Schools rankings Rated Platinum in AASHE STARS v2.2 Program Assistant tends a citrus tree at the Garden Commons.

Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings #1 in U.S., #5 in the world

“We are a global leader in sustainability for a purpose.”

Morgan R. Olsen ASU Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer

The Arizona State University community continued to accelerate its sustainability commitment in the fiscal year 2020 and achieved:

• Platinum rating in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment &

Reporting System of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

• #1 in the U.S. and #5 in the world in the University Impact

Rankings from Times Higher Education for work supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

• #4 in Sierra Magazine’s Coolest School rankings.

These recognitions reflect ASU’s comprehensive approach to sustainability across operations, academics, research and community engagement that stem from an ingrained and expanding culture of sustainability and a focus on innovation and solutions to the world’s environmental, economic and social challenges.

“We are a global leader in sustainability for a purpose,” said Morgan R. Olsen, ASU executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer. “Our dedication to making a positive impact on our planet and society includes an intention to inspire others to do the same.”

This annual review summarizes ASU’s continued efforts in the fiscal year 2020, from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, to achieve its operational sustainability goals: circular resource system; climate positive; collaborative action; community success; food reconnection; optimized water; personal action; and resilience and regeneration.

Circular resource system A circular resource system achieves zero waste by adapting which goods we purchase and maximizing their use before sending them back into the economy for the most productive next use possible.

ASU continues to make significant progress in landfill waste reduction. In FY 2020, the ASU diversion rate was 43.1%.

ASU also had a 22% aversion rate over its FY 2008 baseline.

The FY 2020 diversion is up 1.3% from FY 2019.

The diversion increase is partly due to shifts in on-campus services related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, ASU pivoted to an online format due to the pandemic.

In-person events and activities transitioned to a virtual environment that reduced on-campus populations dramatically.

This included canceling sporting events, food service limitations — meal plans, catering or otherwise — and physically-distanced residential hall move-outs. In this transition, a significant amount of waste was reduced, impacting our per-person waste diversion, waste concentration and service frequency.

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Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

ASU Staff Council sorts materials collected through the Zero Waste Blue Bag program.

ASU waste diversion rate FY 2020

Landfilled 4,938.3 tons 56.9%

Diverted 3,743.3 tons 43.1%

ASU waste diversion rate and on-campus students (FTE) 50%

90,000

45%

80,000

40%

70,000

Diversion rate

35%

60,000

30%

50,000

25% 40,000

20%

30,000

15% 10%

20,000

5%

10,000

0%

On-campus students

FY 2007 – FY 2020

0 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020

Total diversion rate

On-campus students

ASU waste composition FY 2007 – FY 2020

12,000

10,000

Tons

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020

Diverted

Landfill

Milestones:

• Donate: 18 tons of donations were collected during

• Serve: In FY 2020, the Zero Waste department

• Green waste: Green waste collection increased by

• Volunteer: 155 community members participated in

FY 2020 through residence hall donation bins, the Treasures for Teachers program, and the move-out Ditch the Dumpster program.

47.6% from FY 2019 to FY 2020, more than 339 tons across the ASU Polytechnic, Tempe and West campuses.

• Play: 42 students served as Zero Waste Ambassadors

service team completed 1,996 recycling requests at 158 buildings across all four campuses, 467 more than in FY 2019.

52 volunteer opportunities focused on sorting Blue Bag material and fan engagement at sporting events, totaling 185.5 hours of service.

to support Green Game efforts at athletics events and ASU’s Culture Fest during the 2019-20 school year.

Through the ambassador program, five student groups assisted the Zero Waste department in diverting materials from the landfill.

Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

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Climate positive As a response to the climate crisis, ASU achieved climate neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions1 in FY 2019.

ASU achieved this feat six years ahead of schedule to demonstrate leadership and inspire additional action in the higher education community and beyond. ASU repeated this achievement in FY 2020 and is committed to continuing and improving upon neutrality in the future. So far, ASU has reduced net emissions (Scopes 1, 2 and 32) by 84% per 1,000 gross square feet of building space and 83% per student compared to FY 2007.

ASU accomplished climate neutrality through a portfolio approach, including:

• Carbon offsets coupled with local tree plantings, in partnership with Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe.

• Energy efficiency retrofits that exceed $100 million.

• Green building design and construction.

• Purchase of renewable energy and renewable energy

certificates from large-scale, off-site generation facilities.

• Renewable energy associated with on-site solar generation.

Scope 1 emissions result primarily from combusting natural gas to generate heat and electricity for university buildings and from university vehicles. Scope 2 emissions come from external utility providers that supply ASU with electricity and chilled water.

1

Newly planted tree with temporary irrigation pipe in ASU’s Carbon Sink and Learning Forest.

2 Scope 3 emissions occur primarily in third-party commuting and air travel associated with ASU operations.

ASU net greenhouse gas emissions and building space FY 2007 – FY 2020 30

25

20

20 15 15 10 10 5

5

0

0 FY2007

FY2008

FY2009

FY2010

FY2011

FY2012

FY2013

Net emissions / 1,000 GSF

3

Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

FY2014

FY2015

FY2016

FY2017

FY2018

Total building space GSF

FY2019

FY2020

Gross square footage (in millions)

Net GHG (MTCDE) per 1,000 GSF

25

Durham Hall, the newly renovated and LEED Silver-certified facility on the Tempe campus.

Climate positive Milestones:

• Acquired offsets to mitigate the equivalent of

• Realized $3 million in utility savings in FY 2020

approximately 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide through the ASU Carbon Project’s price on carbon for university air travel. | As part of this effort, ASU contracted with Urban

Offsets, Inc. to plant 431 trees in the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe to fight the urban heat island and create shade. When the trees mature, ASU will acquire another 1,465 tons of carbon offsets.

• Contracted with SRP to receive nearly 12,000 megawatt-hours annually from a new solar power plant being constructed in Eloy, Arizona.

through investments in campus energy efficiency made through the Sustainability Initiatives Revolving Fund, SIRF. Additionally, SIRF has invested $3.4 million in new energy efficiency and campus engagement projects.

• Received 65,000 MWh of solar power via the Red Rock APS agreement, enough to power roughly 5,300 Arizona homes for a year.

University Sustainability Practices posted the Achieving Carbon Neutrality at Arizona State University PDF on the ASU Business and Finance website and the AASHE Campus Sustainability Hub. Our goal is to inspire additional climate action among fellow higher education institutions.

• Installed 90 on-site solar arrays on ASU campuses since 2004.

Percent change in total building space, on-campus students and total net emissions FY 2020 vs. FY 2007 60% 40%

Percemt chamge

20% 0% -20% -40% -60% -80% Total building space

On-campus students

Total net emissions MTCDE

Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

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Collaborative action Collaborative action involves multiple departments’ interdisciplinary efforts to advance ASU’s operational sustainability progress and integrate operational sustainability with its research, education and social embeddedness missions. ASU embeds sustainability into departments’ daily activities through initiatives, personnel, programs, policies and procedures.

Successful collaborative action examples include:

•

Celebrated FY 2019 collaborative successes at the fifth annual ASU State of Sustainability Summit. Held the first annual People’s Choice Award, where attendees voted in real time for their favorite student organization’s project. Student organizations included: Green Greeks, GreenLight Solutions, Residence Hall Association, Campus Student Sustainability Initiatives and the Barrett Sustainability Club. While each group featured their wonderful programs and projects, CSSI won the 2019 People’s Choice Award.

• Developed a Sustainable Sun Devil tiered-engagement

program to provide sustainability literacy for Devils’ Advocates and the Student Admissions Relations Team, or START’ers, within Admission Services.

This program targeted more than 257 students across four campuses, 11 students achieved all five tiers, which equates to 60.5 hours of collective sustainability education. More than 118 students completed at least one tier of the training. The program was a collaboration between Admission Services, Zero Waste and University Sustainability Practices.

• Installed 20 additional electric vehicle charging ports.

There now are 66 charging ports available for use.

• Multiple departments on the Fleet Electrification Task

Force updated the university’s Vehicle Purchasing Policy to prioritize the acquisition of electric vehicles when available for a particular transportation need, followed by the lowest emission alternatives in rank order.

ASU has 66 electric vehicle charging ports.

around ASU, all anticipating LEED certification at varying levels. Novus, a public-private partnership, has set a standard of LEED Certified as the minimum green building requirement for all corridor projects.

• Produce Rescue at ASU received the President’s Award

for Sustainability. This award recognizes the development, implementation and promotion of sustainability principles, solutions, programs and services. Produce Rescue is an impactful community program hosted on the ASU Polytechnic, Tempe and West campuses one Saturday per month from November through May. Produce Rescue supports ASU’s food reconnection, community success and collaborative action initiatives.

• The Staff Council Sustainability Committee developed a sustainable purchasing toolkit to help office managers, event planners and administrative assistants purchase materials more sustainably.

• Under the Office of the University Architect’s leadership,

several departments contributed to a multiyear effort culminating in a significant update to the university’s Project Guidelines that govern the design and construction of ASU facilities. The university significantly raised its new construction sustainability standards, in addition to its existing requirement that new buildings be at least LEED Silver.

ASU paper use in recycled content FY 2020

• Over 300 Sustainability certifications were

completed across ASU, including office, event, housing and instructor versions.

• Seventy-four Sustainable Staff Event Planners

were trained in FY 2020, representing 48 departments and offices throughout ASU.

• The Novus Innovation Corridor achieved a milestone

in pursuing LEED for Neighborhood Developments certification: passing the critical prerequisites check.

Meanwhile, several projects under construction by a range of developers began or continued construction

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Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

0% Recycled content

11%

10% Recycled content

58%

26%

30% Recycled content 50% Recycled content 100% Recycled content

5% 0%

Community success ASU measures its success not by whom it excludes but by whom it includes and how they succeed.

Community success examples include:

• After the U.S. Supreme Court decided to continue

the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program, ASU President Michael Crow issued a statement to thank program advocates. He noted that ASU would continue to support a permanent resolution that addresses all undocumented students’ residency.

ASU also will continue to coordinate private support education for DACA and undocumented students.

• ASU’s in-state student population demographics reflect the economic diversity of Arizona’s population.

• ASU’s total spend of $1,340,063,406 during

FY 2020 included 12.7% toward federally recognized small businesses. The university also spent 6.7% toward Arizona-defined small businesses.

•

ASU modified its parental leave policy to expand benefits to 12 weeks. Effective July 1, 2020, the policy provides additional bonding time between parents and their newborn or newly adopted children.

• Celebrating Juneteenth, President Michael Crow issued a statement encouraging ASU community members to dig deeper to advance justice and equality for all, sharing a Black Lives Matter Reading List.

• Student Cultural Coalitions act as umbrella organizations

for all registered cultural and ethnic student organizations university wide. The seven identity-based coalitions3 promote and represent the voice of various university cultures. Student and cultural engagement encourages the development of Sun Devil culture through self-expression, learning, and heritage with a formation of an ASU culture rooted in inclusion, individual experience, community values and the Sun Devil Way.

3 Alliance of Indigenous Peoples, Asian/Asian Pacific American Student Coalition, Black African Coalition, Coalition of International Students, El Concilio, Rainbow Coalition, Women’s Coalition.

Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

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Program assistants harvest lettuce for local food bank donations.

Food reconnection Spanning carbon emissions, circular resources, health, resilience, water and well-being, ASU works to empower its students, faculty and staff to eat as healthy, local, organic and “low on the food chain” as possible. ASU also aims to reduce waste and close food loops to transform its food system and improve the environment. Anchored by Sun Devil Dining’s efforts and incorporated into university practices, ASU offers a wide array of tools and programs to achieve a sustainable food system.

ASU Arboretum Campus Harvest

• Donated 1,500 pounds of dates to Residential Life

Community Assistants to distribute to ASU students living in residence halls on the ASU Tempe campus during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

• Gave 400 pounds of dates to The Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

The urban green space and community garden was built in summer 2019 and began operations in fall 2020.

Centrally located on the ASU Polytechnic campus, it includes a resource room, 18 accessible raised garden beds, a citrus orchard, pecan trees, grapevines, a compost area and a large community patio.

The garden so far has:

• Donated 149 pounds of organic produce to local food banks and contributed 297 volunteer hours.

• Held six farm stands and engaged with 308 students, faculty and staff.

• Hosted six farm stands offering organic produce to the campus community.

• Hosted eight Community Service Work Days with student organizations, ASU Day of Service and Devils in Disguise to include 123 participants.

• Harvested 6,685 pounds of dates and grossed

• Hosted 25 events with 319 hours of participation

• Held 18 harvesting, packing and date sales events

• Grew 290 pounds of organic produce that were

$10,071 in date sales.

at the Tempe campus Sun Devil Fitness Center Palm Walk Medjool date palm location.

• Hosted six harvesting and date sales events at the Polytechnic Date Grove.

• Organized 368 volunteers and 1,849 volunteer hours.

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Garden Commons

Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

and 358 participants.

donated or offered at the campus farm stand.

• Offered eight courses for a total of 406 hours of instruction.

Food reconnection Sun Devil Dining

• Distributed 6,400 pounds of free produce to students at the dining halls with the Free Produce Stand program.

• Operated 10 tower gardens on the Engrained patio

for food systems engagement; 200 pounds of organic produce was grown and harvested for students, faculty and staff.

• Reduced pre-consumer food waste by 48.6% using the LeanPath Food Waste Tracking System at Sun Devil Dining locations.

• Sun Devil Dining donated 15,712 pounds of food to the

Sun Devil Dining’s Aeroponic Tower Garden project located at Engrained.

community through Arizonans for Children and The Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

University Sustainability Practices hosted the Garden Commons grand opening celebration on Nov. 14, 2019, for over 100 guests. Aramark provided lunch at no cost from its Green Menu.

Guest speakers included Morgan R. Olsen, ASU executive vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer, and Nichol Luoma, university business services vice president, university sustainability operations officer, and chief procurement officer.

Changemaker Central @ ASU partnered with Borderlands Produce Rescue in FY 2020 to distribute rescued produce during Produce Rescue events at the ASU Polytechnic, Tempe and West campuses. This partnership provides healthy, affordable food to ASU students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community while diverting food waste from the landfill. During FY 2020, the ASU Borderlands partnership:

• Connected more than 7,020 people to fresh produce.

• Diverted 142,970 pounds of food from landfill.

• Engaged 168 volunteers in extra-curricular learning around food deserts, food waste, and food insecurity.

• Generated more than $121,097 in savings for participants.

• Hosted 11 Produce Rescue events across three locations.

• Supplemented 67,209 meals.

The Cultivate Garden Club volunteering at the Garden Commons.

Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

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Optimized water Optimizing ASU’s water use involves applying a systems approach to use the right quantity and quality of water for the right purpose at the right time. Access to clean water is an increasingly critical global and Southwest regional issue.

ASU conducts research, education and engagement in the water arena and is working to optimize water use in operations.

Cooling towers at ASU West use nanofiltration to increase water reuse.

ASU wastewater and on-campus students (FTE) FY 2007 – FY 2020 1,200

90,000 80,000

1,000

800

60,000 50,000

600 40,000 30,000

400

20,000 200

On-campus students

Wastewater (gallons in millions)

70,000

10,000 0

0 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020

Total wastewater gallons

On-campus students

ASU total water use and on-campus students (FTE) FY 2007 – FY 2020 1,400

90,000 80,000 70,000

1,000

60,000

800

50,000

600

40,000 30,000

400

20,000 200

10,000

0

0 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020

Total water gallons

9

Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review

On-campus students

On-campus students

Water use (gallons in millions)

1,200

Optimized water Milestones:

• Began measuring COVID-19 virus concentrations in

wastewater in March 2020. An ASU Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering team used wastewater sampling stations installed in FY 2019 in partnership with ASU Facilities Development and Management, University Sustainability Practices and many City of Tempe departments. The team installed the stations on the ASU Tempe campus and other city locations. It also developed a community health monitoring dashboard focused on measuring opioids and stress hormones like cortisone and cortisol.

• ASU and the City of Phoenix completed a pilot injection

of a hydrogel polymer into athletic fields on the ASU West campus. The hydrogel and injection technique has demonstrated the capacity to reduce turfgrass water consumption by up to 50% in California environments.

Data on the polymer’s performance will be published in spring 2021, after a full year of collected results.

• Initiated a project to install building-level water meters on

the majority of the ASU Tempe campus. Data from these meters will enable ASU to identify possible leaks, unusual water-use levels and verify the impact of efficiency measures. The meters will establish individual building water usage baselines and add water data to the Campus Metabolism public building information system.

• Replaced 1,340 plumbing fixtures such as toilets to

complete a multi-year, Sustainability Initiatives Revolving Fund-supported retrofit of 2,000 high-water-use plumbing fixtures on the ASU Tempe campus. Students researched and collaborated with the Zero Waste department and Office of the University Architect to divert the porcelain from the landfill. The rescued toilets were crushed into aggregate as a material for future concrete construction projects, such as pathways, benches and planter boxes.

Personal Action ASU uses programs, initiatives and events to engage ASU students, faculty, staff and community members to take personal action in adopting individual behaviors that support sustainability goals on campus and in their lives.

Programs and milestones:

• ASU Educational Outreach and Student Services

supported 92 sustainability-aligned student organizations to develop leadership skills and advance campus sustainability projects.

• Sun Devils embraced sustainable commuting more broadly in FY 2020:

| 738,028 trips were taken by Sun Devils on the

intercampus shuttles, a decrease from FY 2019 due to COVID-19. | 21,709 check-ins at bicycle valet stations. | 18,248 bicycle registrations, an increase

of 12.4%. | 5,460 people purchased transit passes,

Bicycle valet stations hold up to 200 bicycles.

an increase of 9.4% over FY 2019.

• 10,028 students and staff have earned their

“Seedling” certification since 2016 for completing the voluntary Seeds of Sustainability literacy program.

Sustainability Operations | FY 2020 Review 10

Resilience and Regeneration ASU will adapt, sustain, thrive and regenerate its environment and communities in the face of current and future climate change impacts.

Milestones:

• A case study — Building Climate Resilience at Arizona

State University: Second Nature’s Climate Commitment — was published on AASHE’s Campus Sustainability Hub to share ASU’s resilience planning process with other higher education institutions. As part of the Carbon Sink and Learning Forest at ASU West project, a research platform was installed in March 2020 to support local microclimate monitoring. The project will study the forest’s impacts on local and downwind thermal environments to further urban heat island knowledge.

• ASU provided support for planting 431 trees throughout

the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. Since July 2017, ASU has helped local cities plant 1,087 trees to develop more shade and make those cities more resilient to the urban heat island effect and climate change.

• ASU’s Sustainable Cities network partnered with the cities

students made contributions. The projects promoted recommendations ranging from strategizing water conservation to planning community resilience.

• Finalized ASU’s Climate Resilience Plan to fulfill ASU’s

Second Nature Climate Commitment and advance the campus-communities’ resilience to an increase in extreme heat, the frequency and intensity of monsoons, flooding and drought. The plan consists of two sub-plans: The Climate Resilience Emergency Management Plan and the Climate Resilience Enterprise-Planning Framework.

• ASU Urban climatologists conducted a three-year

study of the Tempe campus. Their findings, published in ScienceDirect in October 2019, included that shade, ground vegetation and cool vertical surfaces work together to increase pedestrian thermal comfort.

of Clarkdale, Glendale and Peoria on 16 Project Cities endeavors. More than 80 graduate and undergraduate

ASU rated Platinum for sustainability efforts in AASHE STARS.

Visit cfo.asu.edu/sustainability for more information.

Arizona State University Sustainability Operations P.O. Box 877505 Tempe, AZ 85287-7505 ©2021 Arizona Board of Regents for Arizona State University.

Data in this document reflect reporting through June 30, 2020.

Photography by: ASU Facilities Development and Management, Miranda Delgado, Anya Magnuson, Jarod Opperman, Emmanuel Padilla, Kyle Pendley.