The University's stated commitment to both a general stewardship of the environment and to the specific aim of mitigating climate change requires that we continue to improve practices on our campuses. We have already worked together to make significant inroads in conserving our natural resources, and we will continue to work together to do more. Now, it is timely to request your cooperation in achieving yet another of our stewardship goals: To reduce emissions and climate-changing greenhouse gases from the vehicles the University purchases or leases.
In order to engage this commitment, the University encourages all departments, when purchasing or leasing University vehicles from pre-approved vendors, to choose from the preferred vehicle list in order to reduce emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. These lists of preferred vehicles were determined by ranking estimates of EPA fuel economy (city mpg) and emission standards.
It is a goal of UConn to review it's vehicle fleet and related purchasing practices annually in order to identify opportunities to expand purchasing options in order to include vehicle types that will result in a decrease in associated greenhouse gas emissions and an improvement in overall fleet fuel economy, and to improve compatibility and efficiency of the buyer's needs with the vehicle purchased.
History
In 2005, a workgroup was convened in order to investigate this initiative. By 2007, a law had been passed that mandated that:
"...any car or light duty truck purchased by the state shall have an efficiency rating that is in the top third of all vehicles in such purchased vehicle's class and fifty per cent of such cars and light duty trucks shall be an alternative fueled, hybrid electric or plug-in electric vehicle."
As a result, the Office of Sustainability has compiled lists of vehicles from the University's approved vendors that comply with this mandate along with information on their EPA emissions rating.