Ohio State University is signing onto a climate change pact with 12 other institutions.
The University Climate Change Coalition, or UC3, is an agreement between 13 North American universities and university systems setting timelines for achieving carbon neutral campuses.
Ohio State University Office of Energy and Environment spokeswoman Gina Langen says the schools are also committing their research expertise to reduce emissions in their communities.
“Each university that’s involved in the coalition will continue doing research and hopefully will gear up in some areas that are particularly helpful to solving the climate change problem,” Langen says.
One area that Langen says Ohio State research could contribute to is transportation.
“How to reduce our carbon outputs from our vehicles those types of things, research in batteries so maybe we can move away from carbon," Langen said.
Coalition members are also committing to improve their immediate communities.
“Each school that was involved in the UC3 initiative has pledged to create some programing that will help to educate our government leaders, our communities, our students — those kinds of things,” Langen says.
Ohio State will hold a two day kick-off event for the initiative in May.
