In the wake of the historic climate strike at Uconn last September and prolonged sit-ins at the president’s office, the administration established the Working Group on Sustainability and the Environment, composed of students and faculty, tasked with developing plans to reduce fossil fuel emissions and transition to renewable energy. The working group has spent the past year developing these feasible alternative development plans in a report over 195 pages, but now it is time for the administration to follow through on their commitments to the student body and to the planet by implementing these plans.

Climate change disproportionately harms marginalized communities around the world and threatens the future of humanity. The University of Connecticut Administration is contributing to the global climate crisis by maintaining fossil fuel facilities and refusing to develop renewable energy. Sign this petition to demand the UConn administration does not update boilers on the UConn Cogeneration central utility plant (construction set for spring 2020), and instead invests in alternative renewable energy solutions.

The administration updating the boilers at the Cogeneration plant constitutes a long-term investment in additional fossil fuel-based electricity generation. There can be no additional fossil fuel developments. The university must either account for new energy demands using sustainable and renewable energy sources or it needs to limit demand for energy. Updating the boilers would blatantly contradict multiple recommendations of the administratively appointed working group, and neglects the many practical alternatives they have investigated. UConn must be held accountable in following through with sustainable development, as their rhetoric often does not align with their actions. 

We are demanding the following things from the UConn Administration:

1. Stop the Replacement of the Cogen Boilers, and immediately host a feasibility study for geothermal well fields in this area, utilizing a Power Purchase Agreement.

2. Respond to all Recommendations made in the Working Group Report and how the University will move forward with each one.

3. Widely share the Report with the UConn community and have clear transparency with sustainable development moving forward, including a webpage where all information can be readily available.

4. Open up the President’s Working Group on Sustainability to new undergraduate and graduate students, as several from the previous year have gone on to graduate.