The Concord Academy (CA) Sustainability Plan, developed in partnership with a wide range of academy stakeholders in Spring 2019, commits CA to becoming a leading secondary school in sustainability through a coordinated set of academic and operational goals. By investing in a set of ambitious carbon reduction, facilities and supply chain, and food systems goals, CA cultivates both innovators and leaders in sustainability.

The goals are divided into three main working groups: GHG reduction, sustainable food, and materials and operations management. The goals articulated in this plan are split into two time frames: the first being four years goals, which are anticipated to be accomplished by the Academy’s centennial; the second comprise another set of longer-term goals, that are anticipated to be achieved by 2042, the schools 120th anniversary. Interim targets were set to help CA realize incremental achievements between 2019 and these two time frames.

The centennial presents a once-in a generation opportunity to deliver on sustainability initiatives. The goals were themselves defined by a broadly representative and large group from the CA community; the entire current community was asked to articulate goals at the start, goals that were then refined by a small group of about 50 students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumnae/i.

A summary of focus areas and goals include:

• GHG Reduction – Reduce on campus GHG emissions from buildings by 15% by 2022
• Sustainable Food – Reduce food waste by 20% by 2022 from a 2019 baseline
• Sustainable Building Operations and Material Management – Reduce overall waste by 10% by 2022

A 2018 study completed by GreenerU found that while the school has implemented some beneficial energy reduction programs, there is a large opportunity in unrealized energy savings. The GreenerU study went on to identify that the implementation of all identified energy efficiency work would reduce campus energy use by 20% of 2017 campus energy consumption, and reduce campus greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% from its 2017 annual emission of 1,200 of metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MTCO2e).