23 July 2009: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced that six universities from the US, UK, Spain and China have become the first academic institutions to join the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net), an initiative to promote global action to de-carbonize our economies and societies.

According to UNEP, these institutions are pioneers among hundreds of universities, colleges and other academic institutions worldwide, and are taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote “greening” of their campuses, and invest in low-carbon research and development.
The six universities are: College of the Atlantic, Maine, US; Evergreen State College, US; Malaga University, Spain; Middlebury College, Vermont, US; Tongji University, Shanghai, China; and the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. According to UNEP, in the US alone, 645 colleges and universities are moving towards climate neutrality as part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, and many of these schools are candidates for CN Net.[UNEP press release]