2018 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit
Crossing Sectors – Driving Solutions
Missed the Live Streams? You Can Still Watch Them Online!
Event 1: Pittsburgh’s Cross-Sector Approach to Climate Action
Aligning sectors towards climate action takes leadership that shares
a vision for what is possible when working together. This vision can
often be connected through place-based affinity, where the greater
good of the local community, and deep knowledge about the region,
can anchor a collaborative effort. This session, focused on crosssector
climate action in Pittsburgh, embodies the theme of this year’s
Summit with key leaders sharing their experiences of climate action
planning at the city scale.
Speakers include:
- David Finegold, President, Chatham University, moderator
- Andrew McElwaine, Senior Program Director for Sustainability and the Environment, Heinz Foundation
- Bill Peduto, Mayor, City of Pittsburgh
- Joylette Portlock, President, Communitopia
Event 2: The Role of Research Universities in Place-Based Climate Action
Higher education is often treated uniformly as a sector. The reality,
however, is that there are a diversity of institutional types that form
the sector and each type contains unique strengths that can
accelerate climate solutions. This panel of leaders will discuss an effort
specific to research universities that will build on the cross-sector
themes of the Summit and climate goals of the Presidents’ Climate
Leadership Commitments, to put the strengths of research universities
directly to work in driving climate solutions. The announcement
from the leaders of this coalition of research institutions will kick off
the action-planning efforts to end the Summit and propel the sector
forward in the upcoming year.
Speakers include:
- Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University
- Philip P. DiStefano, Chancellor, University of Colorado Boulder
- Michael Drake, President, Ohio State University
- Janet Napolitano, President, University of California System
- Samuel L. Stanley, President, SUNY Stony Brook
- Tim Carter, President, Second Nature, Moderator
About the Summit
Second Nature and the Intentional Endowments Network are pleased to host the 2018 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit. Join your peers from February 4-6 in Tempe, Arizona for the largest national gathering of higher education presidents, chancellors, trustees, and other senior leaders committed to accelerating climate solutions.
Working together with business, state and local leaders, the higher education sector can and will shape the future of America’s global climate leadership. After the US Administration’s announcement to withdraw from the international Paris Climate Agreement, Second Nature, the Climate Leadership Network, and other sector partners stepped in to fill the void through the We Are Still In (WASI) coalition.
To achieve the Paris goals, approximately $1 Trillion per year in climate solutions investments are needed. As investors, endowments have another powerful, but often under-utilized, voice in driving climate solutions, setting an important example, and offering exciting educational opportunities for students.
The Summit will turn the WASI cross-sector alignment into performance and action. It will relate big ideas to tangible actions with senior leadership teams leaving the event well prepared to tackle some of the biggest climate challenges — individually, collectively with other campuses, and across sectors.
Important Attendee Links:
Why Second Nature and IEN?
Both Second Nature and the Intentional Endowments Network are built on the belief that networks support, facilitate, generate and encourage higher education’s leadership on climate action. Our organizations are built on the strength of collaborative action and learning, fostering innovation, affecting policy and building capacity. Second Nature and IEN understand that mobilizing capital internally and through investments are critical for campuses to achieve their climate goals and that engagement of the private sector is crucial to mobilizing the capital needed to create a low carbon economy.
A Design Committee, comprised of representatives from both organizations, will guide the development of the program. Participants include:
IEN Executive Committee:
- Garrett Ashley, Vice Chancellor, University Relations and Advancement, The California State University
- David Dinerman, Trustee, Hampshire College
- Joe Biernat, Trustee, Gettysburg College
- Alice DonnaSelva, Investment Consultant, Prime Buchholz & Associates
- Lisa Hayles, Institutional Investment Services, Boston Common Asset Management
- Keith Johnson, Chairman, Institutional Investor Legal Services, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.
- Tom Mitchell, Managing Director, Cambridge Associates
- Carl Vance, CIO, Lewis & Clark College
Second Nature:
- Dianne Harrison, President, California State University, Northridge
- David Finegold, President, Chatham University
- Mariko Silver, Vice-Chair, President, Bennington College
- Matt St. Clair, Sustainability Director, University of California Office of the President
- Mick Dalrymple, Director, University Sustainability Practices, Arizona State University
- Meghan Chapple, Sustainability Director, George Washington University