March 22, 2006 COA joins Maine's Governor's Carbon Challenge Program, agreeing to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2010 from 1990 emissions on a per student basis.

April 22, 2006 COA joins Clean Air-Cool Planet's Campuses for Climate Action Program.

October 6, 2006 In honor of the inauguration of David Hales as fifth president of College of the Atlantic, COA's board of trustees passes a resolution that COA will be net-zero for greenhouse gas emissions from that date forward. The trustees also commit to 100 percent reliance on renewable energy sources for all uses (not just electricity) by 2015.

October 2006 COA conducts a study of faculty, staff and student commuting as a basis for calculating carbon emissions associated with daily commuting.

January 2007 The college forms four working groups of students, staff and faculty to:
· find ways to avoid and/or reduce carbon emissions;
· calculate COA's carbon footprint;
· examine options for offsetting carbon emissions
· inform others about climate change issues and actions that can be take to stem climate change.

April 2007 Committee on avoidance and reduction presents a list of ways COA can avoid and reduce carbon emissions. COA creates the brochure, College of the Atlantic's Carbon Net-Zero Policy and Global Climate Change. Preliminary carbon footprint calculated. A booth at COA's Earth Day Celebration educates public about climate change.

October 11, 2007 COA signs a project development agreement with Johnson Controls, Inc., a major international energy auditing firm, to do an energy audit and develop energy conservation measures for COA buildings.

October 2007 Carbon emissions calculation completed.

November 14, 2007 Offset investment working group meets to consider and recommend offset to reduce all emissions that COA could not avoid or reduce.

December 17, 2007 President David Hales selects The Climate Trust as the offset provider and the Traffic Signals Optimization Project in Portland, Oregon as the offset for 2,488 tons of carbon emissions. By offsetting these remaining emissions, College of the Atlantic's greenhouse gas contribution from October 1, 2006 to December 31, 2007 adds up to zero. COA is now carbon neutral. The college resolves to continue researching measurable, verifiable, additional means of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions.