Dear Sagehens,
We are very pleased to share excellent news about our progress toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. Thanks to a new agreement alongside our partners in The Claremont Colleges, we will soon be transitioning to 100% zero-emission renewable electricity.
Through this agreement with Clean Power Alliance (CPA), a community-based energy provider, Pomona and The Claremont Colleges will triple the percentage of renewable electricity that our campuses use. Through its renewable portfolio (solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro), CPA supports significant greenhouse gas reduction efforts and is one of the largest providers of 100% renewable energy in the U.S. We are proud to partner with them in this endeavor.
This agreement will create a transformative shift in the College’s use of energy. It will also allow us to follow through on our carbon-neutrality commitment as perhaps no other change could. For Pomona, this transition will ultimately reduce our overall emissions as a campus by roughly 30 percent, or some 4,000 metric tons annually. As an added benefit, this clean electricity will be produced by solar and battery storage projects in California and Arizona, supporting the growth of renewable infrastructure in our region.
This pivotal development is another powerful example of what is possible when our campus community comes together to turn goals into measurable climate action. We especially want to thank the students of the 5C Environmental Justice Club, who partnered with consortium representatives over the last year as the prospect of this arrangement with CPA was carefully evaluated. In particular, we want to thank Pomona students Milo Slevin ’28, Annika Weber ’26 and Jaden Yang ’28 for their significant contributions to leading this effort; and Alexis Reyes, Pomona’s director of sustainability and energy management.
We are also grateful to our fellow Claremont Consortium presidents and treasurers for their continued partnership and the collaborative work that made this significant agreement possible.
Although this represents a significant step in the right direction, we have not met our goal for carbon neutrality yet, and we will continue to aggressively pursue all avenues to reduce our carbon footprint. We will keep you updated on our progress and appreciate your commitment to this critical goal. Together, we can sustain the momentum needed to achieve carbon neutrality.
Sincerely,
G. Gabrielle Starr
President, Pomona College
Philip and Gertrude McConnell Professor
Departments of English and Neuroscience
Jeff Roth
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Treasurer