EcoMotion honors the incredible work of Hanover High School in New Hampshire for being the first high school in the Country to develop a Climate Action Plan. The plan, that was crafted primarily by the students in consultation with an outside expert and alumni, was most recently updated in May 2019 and has become a framework for other schools and districts to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and achieves climate and sustainability goals.

GHG emissions from the 2015-2016 school year were prepared for HHS’s operations. The 2015-2016 school year inventory shows that HHS’s operational activities  generated 3,221 metric tons of CO2e (MTCO2e). 

The GHG inventory is broken down by seven focus areas that address the major sources of emissions from HHS and sets forth objectives and strategies in (i.e., emissions sectors) that both the school and community can implement together to achieve GHG reductions:

• Building Energy
• Employee Commute 
• Student Commute
• School Buses
• Solid Waste Generation
• Wastewater Generation
• Water Consumption 

The approach used for this CAP was developed by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) and is called the Five Milestones for Climate Mitigation. 

• Milestone One: Conduct a baseline emissions inventory and forecast.
• Milestone Two: Adopt an emissions reduction target for the forecast year.
• Milestone Three: Develop a climate action plan.
• Milestone Four: Implement the climate action plan.
• Milestone Five: Monitor progress and report results

By creating a clear course of action so that the HHS community can have a role in creating and achieving climate and sustainability goals, the CAP drives and coordinates efforts toward a reduction in GHG emissions of 6 percent below 2016-17 school year emission levels by 2025 and 77 percent below 2016-17 school year emission levels by 2050. 

Check out the Climate Action Plan, below:

https://www.hanoverhigh.org/uploaded/Hanover_High_School/Sustainability/CAPlessdataMay2019.pdf