Covering 10 campuses and five medical centers, the University of California’s sustainability program is a robust, comprehensive initiative designed to implement, maintain, and promote a broad scope of sustainable actions and efforts. As a key part of the program, an annual report is presented to the UC Board of Regents every January, detailing the previous year’s progress towards meeting key goals.
Some of the most important highlights from the 2016 Annual Report on Sustainable Practices include:
- Carbon neutrality. Two UC campuses, UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, have already met and exceeded the goal, originally set for 2020, of lowering greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. To help other campuses achieve the further goal of complete carbon neutrality by 2025, a Strategic Planning Framework was designed and developed this past year by the UC Office of the President.
- Energy efficiency. In 2016, 45 UC projects became registered participants in the Energy Efficiency Partnership program. These projects not only earned $4.4 million in incentives, but they also helped the University reduce its utility and energy costs by $550,000.
- Food sustainability. In the 2015-16 academic year, more than 20 percent of UC’s food purchases came from sustainable products and producers. Furthermore, at seven out of UC’s 10 campuses, at least one food service facility was certified as a green business.
- Waste. An impressive 69 percent of UC’s waste was diverted from California landfills during the 2015-16 academic year. In a typical year, UC sends 26 percent less waste to landfills than other comparable universities (an average of 198 pounds per person).
