Document Type
White Paper
Publication Date
6-25-2025
Publication Title
Second Nature
Abstract
Many businesses have adopted internal carbon prices (ICPs) to help drive smarter business decisions, innovation, and emissions reductions. The objective of this white paper is to provide a framework that institutions, particularly those in higher education, can use as they think about selecting a price in the context of their own goals for an ICP.
Second Nature’s recent 2025 Carbon Markets and Offsets guidance recommends that: “colleges and universities develop a climate action strategy that includes some type of internal carbon pricing, either as a mechanism to inform climate-positive decision-making or as a mechanism for generating revenue estimates for decarbonization and, if applicable, offset purchases.” and notes that “This approach is in line with a true dedication to responsible decarbonization because it places offsetting, and even the achievement of carbon neutrality, into a more holistic decision-making framework than simple market forces allow.” (Second Nature, 2025a)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Rights
© 2025 The Authors. Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY 4.0 under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.
Recommended Citation
Barron, Alexander R. and Prassa, Dimitra, "Selecting an Internal Carbon Price for Academic Institutions" (2025). Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/env_facpubs/34
Comments
Archived as published.
Published online at Second Nature, Inc.