"It was the right thing to do — both educationally and in service to our future," said Sweet Briar President Elisabeth Muhlenfeld when asked why she signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.

Sweet Briar, a charter signatory to the commitment, has taken a pledge to become climate neutral, or have no net greenhouse gas emissions.

Colleges are supposed to get there "by minimizing greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and using carbon offsets or other measures to mitigate the remaining emissions."

A steering committee has begun to flesh out a long-range plan to implement the Commitment. So far, it has identified five areas that will underpin the plan: energy usage, student engagement, community initiatives, land usage and a mechanism to make progress reports publicly available.