With less than two weeks until the President attends the Conference on Climate Change, the Administration is committed to building momentum and ensuring a variety of stakeholders are at the table to act on climate. As part of that effort, the White House today announced that more than 200 university and college campuses signed the American Campuses Act on Climate Pledge to demonstrate their support for strong climate action by world leaders in Paris next month. These schools include historically black colleges and universities, religious institutions, women’s colleges, technical schools, community colleges, all schools in the Ivy League, and a variety of public and private universities located across more than 40 states.

The institutions signing today’s pledge are also already taking significant action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase campus sustainability and resilience, and incorporate environmental action into academic curriculum. More than 100 of the schools that signed the pledge have also set goals to become carbon neutral within the next few decades. In addition, Defend Our Future launched a new climate change campus campaign to empower more than 1 million young Americans to take decisive action on climate change. Along with the launch of the campaign, a bikeshare company based in Santa Monica, California called Cyclehop, has committed to expanding access to smart-bikes on college campuses across the country.

As part of today’s announcement, university presidents, students, and NGOs are participating in a White House Summit with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Managing Director Christy Goldfuss to highlight the important work being done to act on climate at universities, voice support for a strong agreement in Paris, and discuss future steps that leaders in higher education can take toward a low-carbon, sustainable future. McCarthy will also participate in a Facebook live event with YouTuber Emily Graslie, the Chief Curiosity Correspondent of The Field Museum in Chicago, and host of the educational YouTube channel The Brain Scoop, to answer questions from students at over 140 campus watch parties across the nation.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt worldwide and President Obama recognizes the importance of collaboration and working across sectors to address the impacts of climate change. More than 150 countries representing around 90% of all global emissions have offered climate pledges and last month, 81 companies from across the American economy signed the American Businesses Act on Climate Pledge to demonstrate their commitment to climate action and show their support for a strong international climate agreement. Today’s actions are a great step forward in highlighting American leadership on climate action and ensuring a successful global agreement on climate change next month. 

American Campuses Act on Climate Pledge

Today, 218 campuses representing over 3.3 million students across the country are committing to take action on climate by signing American Campuses on Climate Pledge:

“As institutions of higher education, we applaud the progress already made to promote clean energy and climate action as we seek a comprehensive, ambitious agreement at the upcoming United Nations Climate Negotiations in Paris. We recognize the urgent need to act now to avoid irreversible costs to our global community’s economic prosperity and public health and are optimistic that world leaders will reach an agreement to secure a transition to a low carbon future. Today our school pledges to accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy while enhancing sustainable and resilient practices across our campus.”   

Campuses joining the pledge include:

1.Agnes Scott College

2.American University

3.Antioch University of New England

4.Appalachian State University

5.Auburn University

6.Augsburg College

7.Ball State University

8.Bard College

9.Bay de Noc Community College

10.Bentley University

11.Berea College

12.Bergen Community College

13.Boston Architectural College

14.Boston University

15.Bowdoin College

16.Bowie State University

17.Brandeis University

18.Bristol Community College

19.Brown University

20.California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

21.California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

22.California State University Maritime Academy

23.California State University San Marcos

24.California State University, Bakersfield

25.California State University, Channel Islands

26.California State University, Chico

27.California State University, Dominguez Hills

28.California State University, East Bay

29.California State University, Fresno

30.California State University, Fullerton

31.California State University, Long Beach

32.California State University, Los Angeles

33.California State University, Monterey Bay

34.California State University, Northridge

35.California State University, Sacramento

36.California State University, San Bernardino

37.California State University, Stanislaus

38.Carnegie Mellon University

39.Cedar Valley College

40.Central Community College

41.Chesapeake College

42.Claflin University

43.Clark Atlanta University

44.Clarkson University

45.Cleveland State University

46.Colgate University

47.College of Lake County

48.Colorado State University

49.Columbia University

50.Coppin State University

51.Cornell University

52.Cuyahoga Community College

53.Dartmouth College

54.Denison University

55.DePaul University

56.Desert Research Institute

57.Dickinson College

58.Duke University

59.Eastern Connecticut University

60.Emory & Henry College

61.Estrella Mountain Community College

62.Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)

63.Florida A&M University 

64.Florida Climate Institute (FCI)

65.Florida International University

66.Frostburg State University

67.Furman University

68.Gateway Technical College

69.George Mason University

70.George Washington University

71.Georgetown University

72.Goshen College

73.Goucher College

74.Governors State University

75.Hampshire College

76.Harvard University

77.Harvey Mudd College

78.Haskell Indian Nations University

79.Haverford College

80.Howard University

81.Humboldt State University (CSU)

82.Iowa State University

83.John Carroll University

84.Johns Hopkins University

85.Kaua’i Community College

86.Kent State University

87.Lane Community College

88.Lasell College

89.Lewis and Clark College

90.Macalester College

91.Maricopa County Community College District

92.Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

93.Middlebury College

94.Michigan State University

95.Millersville University

96.Missouri University of Science and Technology

97.Montgomery County Community College

98.Morehouse College

99.New York University

100.Northeast Lakeview College (Alamo)

101.NorthWest Arkansas Community College

102.Northwest Vista College (Alamo)

103.Northwestern University

104.North Lake College

105.Norwalk Community College

106.Oberlin College

107.Onondaga Community College

108.Pacific University

109.Palo Alto College  (Alamo)

110.Paradise Valley Community College

111.Paul Smith’s College

112.Pitzer College

113.Pomona College

114.Portland State University

115.Princeton University

116.Quinebaug Valley Community College

117.Radford University 

118.Ramapo College of New Jersey

119.Randolph College

120.Raritan Valley Community College

121.Rochester Institute of Technology

122.Rutgers University

123.Salisbury University

124.San Antonio College (Alamo)

125.San Diego State University (CSU)

126.San Francisco State University (CSU)

127.San Jose State University (CSU)

128.Santa Clara University

129.School of International Training

130.School of the Art Institute of Chicago

131.Scottsdale Community College

132.Shaw University

133.Smith College

134.Sonoma State University (CSU)

135.Southern Connecticut State University

136.Spelman College

137.St. Phillip’s College (Alamo)

138.Stanford University

139.Stonehill College

140.SUNY Albany

141.SUNY Binghamton

142.SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

143.SUNY Cortland

144.SUNY Empire State College

145.SUNY Oswego

146.SUNY Polytechnic Institute

147.SUNY Sullivan

148.SUNY University at Buffalo

149.SUNY Upstate Medical

150.Swarthmore College

151.Syracuse University

152.Temple University

153.The New School

154.The Ohio State University 

155.Towson University

156.Tufts University

157.Tulane University

158.Unity College

159.Universities at Shady Grove

160.University of Alaska – Southeast

161.University of Arizona

162.University of Baltimore

163.University of California, Berkeley

164.University of California, Davis

165.University of California, Irvine

166.University of California, Los Angeles

167.University of California, Merced

168.University of California, Riverside

169.University of California, San Diego

170.University of California, San Francisco

171.University of California, Santa Barbara

172.University of California, Santa Cruz

173.University of Colorado

174.University of Connecticut

175.University of Delaware

176.University of Hawaii – Kauai Community College

177.University of Hawaii – Hawai’I Community College

178.University of Hawaii – Hilo

179.University of Hawaii – Honolulu Community College

180.University of Hawaii – Kapi’olani Community College

181.University of Hawaii – Leeward Community College

182.University of Hawaii – Manoa

183.University of Hawaii – Maui Community College

184.University of Hawaii – West O’ahu

185.University of Hawaii – Windward Community College

186.University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

187.University of Maryland – Eastern Shore

188.University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences

189.University of Maryland University College

190.University of Maryland, Baltimore County

191.University of Maryland, College Park

192.University of Massachusetts – Amherst

193.University of Michigan

194.University of Minnesota

195.University of Minnesota, Morris

196.University of Mississippi

197.University of Nevada, Reno

198.University of Nevada, Las Vegas

199.University of New Hampshire

200.University of North Carolina Wilmington

201.University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

202.University of Northern Iowa (UNI)

203.University of Notre Dame

204.University of Pennsylvania

205.University of San Francisco

206.University of Washington

207.University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point

208.Vassar College

209.Vermont Law School

210.Villanova University

211.Wake Technical Community College

212.Wells College

213.Wesleyan College

214.Wesleyan University

215.Western Technical College

216.Willamette University

217.Williams College

218.Yale University