Sustainability Advocates Seek 1% of Carbon-Emissions Allowances for Green Education

Sustainability advocates in higher education are circulating a letter among college presidents, asking for their support for a plan to set aside 1 percent of the proceeds from carbon-emissions allowances — potentially $1-billion — for education in the fields of clean energy, environmental literacy, and sustainability.

The letter and the plan, called “1% for Education,” will be presented to leaders in the U.S. Senate, who are hammering out a cap-and-trade bill similar to one passed by the House of Representatives two weeks ago. More than 100 college leaders have signed the letter. Organizers plan to deliver the letter to lawmakers by Friday.

“As presidents of colleges and universities across the nation, we stand ready to provide leadership in the nation’s transition to a clean-energy economy,” the letter says in part. “In fact, higher education currently leads all other sectors in confronting the challenges of climate change and finding practical solutions to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Each year, our education system sends three million graduates into the work force, who need to have the skills and knowledge to contribute to and participate fully in a clean-energy economy.”

A similar letter is being distributed among higher-education associations. In a recent interview, Jim Elder, director of the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, who has been involved in crafting the plan, said that if Congress did indeed create a fund for green education, the money from carbon-emissions allowances would be divided into two piles: Half would go into existing federal sustainability programs, and half would go into programs yet to be defined. Those programs, he said, could not be defined until there was some structure in place to finance them — a structure provided by the cap-and-trade bill.

“You can’t refer in legislation to legislation that doesn’t exist yet,” he said. “So we ended up focusing our advocacy efforts on the big picture, which is the 1 percent, and making sure that happens. If we get traction on that, then we’ll spend some time trying to figure out how at least half of those funds get spent.” —Scott Carlson