Premium
DO ACTIONS SPEAK AS LOUD AS WORDS? COMMITMENTS TO “GOING GREEN” ON CAMPUS
Author(s) -
SIRIANNI PHILIP,
O’HARA MICHAEL
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1111/coep.12047
Subject(s) - pledge , neutrality , set (abstract data type) , power (physics) , economics , public economics , business , marketing , environmental economics , political science , law , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
Signatories to the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) pledge to pursue a path toward carbon neutrality through the choice of a set of Tangible Actions (TAs). The actions can be chosen either because they will lead to reductions or because they are the easiest to achieve. By exploiting the variation in the TAs chosen by colleges, we find evidence for both of these motivations. We find evidence that schools focusing their efforts on improving energy efficiency have achieved swift reductions. Conversely, schools pledging to use green power are generally already utilizing it and therefore do not achieve additional reductions. We conclude with suggestions for improvement in the ACUPCC reporting system that would improve potential for analysis. ( JEL Q01, Q40, Q56)