Climate protection initiatives in Southwest Virginia got a boost Wednesday as Virginia Tech announced it would begin work on a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

The announcement followed international recognition earlier this month of climate change initiatives in Blacksburg and Roanoke.

Student environmental groups have twice called for Tech President Charles Steger to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The goal of the commitment is to encourage the country's colleges and universities to drastically reduce their carbon footprints.

But Steger has said he will not sign the commitment at this point. Instead, Tech announced Wednesday that by next year the university will develop its own campus sustainability plan. Steger also announced the appointment of a universitywide committee to oversee the development of the plan.

According to a news release, Steger said: "Virginia Tech will be better served by developing a sustainability plan that is specific to our university community. This plan will have a significant impact on our policies, operations, and the budget of the university."

As Tech begins the process of looking at its contributions to global warming, officials in Blacksburg and Roanoke already have made significant strides in assessing their carbon footprints and are working on the next step: setting goals for reducing their emissions.

On May 15, the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives honored Blacksburg and Roanoke for completing comprehensive inventories of their communities' greenhouse gas emissions. The inventories are considered the first of several actions a community must take to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gasses that scientists believe contribute to global warming.

Such recognitions are important, said ICLEI spokeswoman Annie Strickler, because to effectively reduce emissions, communities "have to have that benchmark."

Only about 30 Virginia localities have so far been recognized by ICLEI for making any progress toward emissions reductions, Strickler said.

ICLEI is an international association of about 1,000 local governments -- including 440 in the United States -- that encourages municipalities to reduce their emissions and to provide leadership and incentives for businesses and residents to do the same. The group organizes conferences and provides education, training and resources to help governments achieve sustainability goals.

Both Blacksburg and Roanoke also are listed as members of the Sierra Club's Cool Cities Across America program.

Additionally, Blacksburg has signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. By signing, the town has pledged to reduce its emissions to pre-1990 levels by 2012.

The hardest work is yet to come, however. Both governments must decide how best to reduce their emissions and fund those strategies.

Completing their carbon emissions inventories has already taught Blacksburg and Roanoke officials one sobering lesson: Governments can't do it on their own. Other sectors of the community must get involved to make meaningful emissions cuts.

Emissions studies from across the country consistently show that municipal government operations account for 1 percent to 5 percent of a community's total greenhouse gas emissions, said Sean McGinnis, director of Tech's Green Engineering Program and co-author of Roanoke's greenhouse gas inventory.

The Roanoke emissions inventory showed, for example, that the city government pumped 54 kilotons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2005. That's about 2 percent of the city's overall emissions, which added up to 2,900 kilotons.

Last year, Virginia Tech urban planning professor John Randolph announced the preliminary results of "Blacksburg: A Greenhouse Gas Inventory." Based on energy-use data from 2000 to 2006 gathered from local utilities, state agencies, Virginia Tech and the town government, Blacksburg produces 780 kilotons of greenhouse gases each year.

Of that total, however, the town government operations accounted for only 36 kilotons, the lowest of all sectors measured.

While local governments have only limited impact on emissions, they still have an important role to play, according to McGinnis. They can provide models and incentives to encourage business, industry and households to reduce their emissions, he said.

The largest producer of greenhouse gases in Blacksburg was Tech, which emits 280 kilotons per year.

Although Tech officials sit on the town's climate initiatives task force and have participated in the drafting of the town's emissions inventory, the town has decided to omit the university from its reduction targets, said Mayor Ron Rordam.

The university "is such a large contributor" to the town's carbon footprint, Rordam said. But, he pointed out, the town has no control over the university's operations.

"Virginia Tech has to make its own commitment," the mayor said. "And it sounds like from this announcement today that they are doing that, which I think is great."

Mark McClain of the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition also praised Steger's announcement.

The fact that Tech "wants to do something is laudable. When we see their emissions target, we can judge how laudable it is," he said.