On Monday, Sept. 23, The University of Connecticut and Eversource held its third annual Sustainable Clean Energy Summit, according to The Daily Campus. The summit’s major theme, as announced by Penni McLean-Conner, Eversource Energy’s executive vice president of customer experience and energy strategy, was “decarbonizing our grid and decarbonizing society.” The event was characterized by a discussion of new research into green technologies and their potential to create change, like the Clean Energy and Sustainability Innovation Program which was the crowning highlight of the night.
This approach to sustainability at UConn is a very typical one. The Daily Campus Editorial Board has written about how this university purports small, incremental changes in sustainability policy as being much larger than they are. The focus on non-material future development is made out to be a surefire way to fix the existential problem that is climate change. These promises are made on a continuing basis with no requirement of an outcome or proof of concept. As an example, UConn’s high hopes of acquiring federal funding led to lots of talk of hydrogen research and innovation, the likes of which resulted in very little when we lost the competition for funds.
While these promises float in the air, the consequences of UConn’s current struggle with sustainability continue to be very real and tangible. For example, its partnership with Eversource is harmful to the environment. Although Eversource, like UConn, claims to be a sustainability leader, it has faced class action lawsuits for greenwashing over the realities of its main product: methane gas. They have vocally stated their support of goals for decarbonization, but they continue to invest billions in new methane gas expansions, long-term purchases that will be in place long after its stated goal of carbon neutrality in 2030. These choices and their effects are happening now, while loose notions of innovation only exist in an unknown future.
As UConn renewed for three more years its Memorandum of Understanding with Eversource to help decarbonize our grid, it is worth questioning whether this organization will help with that. 2030 is less than six years away now, and the time to dwell on future solutions is running out. Meanwhile, Eversource does not appear to be focusing on current sustainable solutions, as it is more committed to its methane gas business which it profits from heavily. The focus needs to be on what we can do now, and a tangible plan to put those solutions into practice. Given UConn’s current lack of a reality, this does not appear promising. Instead of focusing on events like these and partnerships like this one, UConn needs to focus on tangible sustainability work that will have an impact now.