Since the first Climate Action Plan in 2009, Duke University has been exploring carbon offsets to ensure high-quality offset options. This effort has been focused on procurement strategy over the past year to optimize cost and quality for the offsets necessary for carbon neutrality in 2024 and beyond. Duke worked with an external consultant to develop a customized evaluation tool to validate prospective offsets projects and created a faculty/student offset advisory committee to ensure any offset purchases meet high-quality standards. The University strives to create a high quality, diversified offset portfolio to reduce risk.
Duke will meet the 2024 goal of carbon neutrality with a combination of on-campus reductions and high-quality carbon offset projects. Over the 2023-2024 academic year Sustainable Duke and its operational partners will be assessing opportunities out to 2030 to further invest in internal reductions in energy, employee commuting, and air travel to reduce the proportion of carbon offsets necessary to maintain neutrality.