Letter from President Brody Regarding Climate Change Policy at Johns Hopkins University

July 23, 2007

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

There is near-unanimous agreement in the scientific community that the emission of greenhouse gases caused by human activity is contributing substantially to global climate change. It is clear that curbing these emissions poses a significant challenge for future generations.

It is also clear that universities must play a central role in meeting this challenge. We must forge new knowledge, use that knowledge to develop and implement solutions, and pass along that knowledge so that our students will have the necessary tools to help solve our problems.

Johns Hopkins is eager to rise to this immense challenge. I believe that sustainable solutions to the global climate change problem will require both changes in individual behavior and cultural changes. Johns Hopkins will take a leadership role in discovering both practical and innovative changes and will promote their adoption.

As of today, I am committing The Johns Hopkins University to become a driving force for developing solutions to the climate change problem. To that end, we are adopting the following four guiding principles in operations, research, and scholarship:

* We will reduce, with the vision of carbon neutrality, the emissions of greenhouse gases derived from university operations. We will do so in a timely manner that allows for flexibility, incorporation of new technologies and financial stewardship.
* We will share knowledge and experience with the community, offering leadership and assistance on actions that can improve our surroundings while reducing the carbon footprint of the Baltimore-Washington region.
* We will leverage our strengths in science, technology, public health, and public policy to contribute to finding solutions to issues related to climate change on a global level.
* We will incorporate student involvement as an essential element in all relevant greenhouse gas emissions reductions strategies.

To implement these principles, I am forming a President’s Task Force on Climate Change. This task force, within one year, will:

a. Develop a Comprehensive Climate Strategic Plan. The plan will cover the objectives described in recent recommendations to me from the Johns Hopkins Sustainability Committee.
b. Create an interdisciplinary working group, comprising university experts from different divisions, to focus on innovative and novel approaches to creating the appropriate incentives for individual, group and societal behavior changes as they relate to climate change.
c. Begin to develop strong relationships with state and local governments within the greater Baltimore-Washington region, exploring how we can collaboratively address climate change issues.

We have institutional and research strengths that will move important climate change scholarship forward. With an issue as complex as climate change, though, there are far more operational and research needs than we can address individually. Fortunately, we are not alone in our efforts. To really make a significant impact, Johns Hopkins and a dozen other major universities – including the Ivy League institutions, Stanford, the University of Chicago and MIT – are exploring a strong, climate-focused collaborative to streamline our ability to work together and leverage each of our particular strengths to address this matter most effectively. Already our sustainability and energy experts, along with their counterparts at these peer institutions, have formed a climate-focused working group to share ideas and collaborate on solutions.

For more information on our climate change initiative, please see a story in today’s Gazette, available online at

http://www.jhu.edu/gazette/2007/23jul07/23climate.html

You may also read the recommendations from the Johns Hopkins Sustainability Committee that led to today’s announcements. They are online at:

http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/reports/climate.html

The challenge of climate change is huge, but it is not insurmountable. Our university, with its wealth of intellectual resources, can make a difference. Working across divisional lines and in collaboration with partners in academia and in the community, we can put our knowledge and expertise to work attacking and, ultimately, helping to solve this problem.

We will announce the membership of the president’s task force soon and follow up with additional news as it becomes available. Thank you for your interest and for your involvement in this important initiative

Sincerely,

William R. Brody