At Frank Dining Hall, tens of thousands of dollars have been saved on food that previously would have been wasted, thanks to a food scale and camera almost too small to notice.
Fine-tuning the HVAC system in Bridges Auditorium cut natural gas use by 57% and in Harwood Court by 60%.
Reusing, recycling and composting diverted 51% of campus waste.
The 2025 SAVE: Sustainable Action Visible Results Annual Report released by Pomona College on October 10 shows how efforts such as these are contributing to significant strides toward its goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 and identifies areas for further improvement.
They are saving the College hundreds of thousands of dollars, too.
The report, published each fall by the College’s Office of Sustainability, uses 2014 as a baseline year and tracks Pomona’s progress, says Alexis Reyes, director of sustainability and energy management.
“This year’s report highlights how staff, students and faculty are all contributing to sustainability in ways both big and small,” says Reyes. “Whether through research, daily operations or creative projects, these collective efforts are what drive our progress each year.”
Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
This fiscal year the College’s 7.5% drop in greenhouse gas emissions was its highest outside of a pandemic year. Energy emissions have been reduced by 40% and overall emissions are now down 19% since 2014.
Energy use decreased by 7% last fiscal year, with implementation of an optimization program for our Building Management System (BMS) a key driver. The College now consumes 30% less energy a year than in 2014.
The team, which included HVAC, energy management and project management, analyzed heating and air conditioning scheduling, temperature setpoints and equipment efficiency in 37 campus buildings. The goal of the optimization program was to reduce energy consumption without compromising occupant comfort.
Electricity efficiency saw Mason Hall using 35% less and Carnegie Hall down 23%. Energy savings across campus totaled 15.6 million KBTUs of energy and lowered utility costs by $295,000.
Water
“Another area where we’ve been doing really well is our water usage,” says Reyes. Since 2014, campus water use has been cut by 40%, due in part to increased use of native and drought-tolerant plants and student-led surveys that have identified areas where grass can be removed.
“There’s lots of room for collaboration with students in this area, because they are really passionate,” says Reyes. “They want a culture of sustainability and using water in a wise way.”
There was a slight uptick of 10% in water consumption this fiscal year, Reyes says, due to a major year-over-year difference in rainfall—30 inches in 2023-24 and only 12 inches in 2024-25—requiring more irrigation.
Food
In dining services, a pilot program using MetaFoodX technology is helping the College reduce food waste by right-sizing production to match diners’ choices. Each tray of food bound for specified serving bays is weighed, temperature-tested and photographed before and after being placed out for service. The system calculates how much is consumed—a major help in menu planning and purchasing.
It also helps identify what leftovers are safe to be donated to programs for people in the community who are experiencing food insecurity. “So far we’ve avoided over 7,000 pounds of food waste,” says Jose Martinez, dining service general manager.
Martinez reports that 27% of food purchases had at least one sustainability certification, a decline of 4% over last fiscal year mainly attributed to higher meat costs, especially beef. On the plus side, nearly half of produce was sourced locally.
“We try to buy fresh by season,” says Martinez. “We’ve upgraded the salad bar to whatever is in season.”
Transportation
Reducing emissions from transportation is a particularly thorny challenge. Faculty and staff must get to campus. Athletes and study away students travel to distant games and program centers. Admissions and Investments staff make visits worldwide on behalf of the College.
It is encouraging, then, that transportation emissions went down 8% this fiscal year. Since 2014, the total reduction is 4%.
Air travel, the report notes, accounts for 71% of transportation emissions.
Since 2022, the Office of International and Domestic Programs (IDPO) has been buying verified offsets for all student, faculty and staff travel associated with study away “to reduce our carbon footprint and set an example for peers in the field,” says Nicole Desjardins Gowdy, senior director of IDPO.
The Office of Admissions followed suit in 2023, followed by the Office of Advancement in 2025.
Faculty single-occupancy-vehicle commuting has decreased by 40% since 2014, despite a 12% increase in the number of faculty.
Staff, on the other hand, saw a 10% increase in miles driven since 2014, while the number of staff grew by 13%. The average staff member’s commute is 14.2 miles; a faculty member’s is 7.9 miles. Home prices in Claremont have increased faster than the national average since 2000, pushing many staff to more affordable areas further from campus.
“Sometimes the most meaningful progress comes from actions that are easy to overlook—a recalibrated thermostat, reporting a water leak, sorting waste—but together, these small efforts add up to something extraordinary,” says Reyes. “Achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 is a grand challenge, and it will take all of us—students, staff and faculty—continuing to do the small things, together, to get there.”