The staff and Board of Trustees declare Mount Auburn’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by FY2050 in this document, Mount Auburn’s first Climate Action Plan. This document reports scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions for fiscal years 2010 through 2021 based on purchasing records related to Mount Auburn’s mobile fleet, cremations, building heat and electricity. Understanding the past use is an attempt to predict an unpredictable future. There are things we know. Action is required now, and successes will follow two paths: 1) Making big changes requires capital investments and 2) continuing to perform the smaller upgrades that cost fewer dollars that Mount Auburn has been completing for well over a decade already.
Their Sustainability Plan focuses on the “triple bottom line” (TBL) of environmental, social and economic concerns. This Sustainability Plan sets in motion ways for Mount Auburn to give back to the ecosystem rather than extract from it; to assess and create a community where all members thrive, are valued, respected, and engaged; and where Mount Auburn’s financial investments are in alignment with the environmental and social stances that Mount Auburn promotes. Mount Auburn’s leadership position in the local community and in the nation as a national treasure has influence over how and what the public can do to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. Sharing Mount Auburn’s successes and failures can assist others in making educated decisions about what is best for the management of their organizations and/or what actions individuals may implement at their homes.
