Clemson University has earned a STARS Silver rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Additionally, the University community can view the report and track progress with a new interactive StarsBI dashboard, thanks to a partnership with CarbonCents.
STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education.
Clemson’s 2024 v2.2 STARS report earned a silver rating with 61.5 points, a 7.65 point improvement from 2018 and just 3.5 points away from a gold rating.
“The STARS report helps us quantify the cultural pieces around sustainability at Clemson,” said Jennifer Goree, chair of Clemson University’s Sustainability Commission. “The great thing about StarsBI is not only is it a forward-facing tool for our stakeholders to view, but it also serves as a helpful way for us to establish our next achievable goals.”
After the STARS report in 2018, Clemson resumed its efforts in October 2023 to complete a second report with the support of the Sustainability Commission (CUSC), the backing of the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, the Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations, and Chief Operations Officer, alongside efforts from various faculty and staff.
“Sustainability has always been a foundation of our teaching, research and outreach programs, supporting our mission as a land-grant institution,” said Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Robert H. Jones, who noted sustainability goals go back to the University’s beginning when Clemson taught sustainable agricultural practices. “The STARS assessment allows us to continue to build an awareness of climate change and how we can prevent its worsening effects on our planet.”
Clemson partnered with CarbonCents to help the project team with creating the dashboard as well as the tremendous amount of legwork involved in assembling the report, like data collection, personal outreach and information verification.
Founded by Tim Howard, former director of development and operations for the Clemson University Energy and Visualization Center (CEVAC), and Snowil Lopes, director for technology and research for CEVAC, CarbonCents is a technology-driven company that offers predictive energy management platforms for carbon reduction data.
“As a company who is so well-versed with Clemson, we wanted to not only help create the report, but also make sure the report would be useful to help reach the University’s goals,” said Lucy Loazer, project lead at CarbonCents.
StarsBI is powered by Power BI, Microsoft’s business analytics platform. Visitors can sort by report subcategory, view goal progression for the next version of STARS and compare by year.
While Goree and the commission are happy with the improvement since 2018’s report, work has already begun on making improvements for the next report in 2027.
“We are absolutely, totally committed to gold in the next three years, platinum in six and our 2030 carbon neutrality goal,” said Goree. “What I’m most excited about is the University’s commitment to do this every three years. Clemson’s history and future are tied to sustainability.”