Scope 3 is the biggest blind spot for every institution in the world. For universities, Scope 3 - Cat 1 – Purchased Goods & Services and Cat 15 – Financed Emissions are the biggest part of the GHG footprint. Both areas provide a unique opportunity to engage professors and students in ongoing projects that can improve a university’s own understanding of its footprint and risks, as well as improve its STARS rating. It’s also an incredibly rich area for students and professors to create recurring sustainability projects that build over time. The procurement of goods and services, as well as the investments in the markets create ever-green areas of research that also result in expertise that is desirable on Wall Street, and Main Street.
Business school professors and business students are eager to learn about this type of work and this process is a proven example that is creating results and jobs. Through a series of projects with universities across the United States, we have developed a road-map for success for measuring Scope 3, identifying suppliers that need support, and leveraging Professors, Students, and Campus Procurement to create an ongoing supplier engagement and training program.
This session will explain the project's current status, as well as how other universities can easily replicate this initiative on their own campuses. The session will also draw from a supplier story and how suppliers are increasingly developing their own sustainability programs to meet their customers’ sustainability objectives. Everyone is someone’s Scope 3.