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Climate Action at UC San Diego and Beyond: Home & Introduction

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Introduction to this Guide

Since its foundation In 1960, UC San Diego has been a leader in climate studies research and education, beginning with the work of Dr. Charles Keeling at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which pointed to the link between fossil fuel emissions and rising levels of atmospheric carbon.   Today, UCSD has a number of significant interdisciplinary educational programs and members of the campus community are taking concrete, action-based steps to address and mitigate climate change.  This guide points to information to help users with climate research and action, beginning by reviewing the University of California's 2024 Sustainable Practices Policy and 2023 Sustainability ReportRelated information -- including data -- can be accessed in the UCSD-hosted "Green New Deal" Digital Archive.

These two very recent documents reflect a significant development in the University of California's practices to further climate action in 2023: the Office of the President's response to faculty and student concerns about the use of carbon offsets to meet its net-zero goals by convening a 'Fossil Free Pathways' taskforce. The new policy resulted in calls for a 90% reduction of the university's greenhouse gas emissions "without relying on voluntary carbon offsets." In the academic year 23-24, each campus undertook a detailed decarbonization study from which it will be setting its own emissions reduction goals for 2030, 2035, and 2040."

Broader/Longer History of Climate Action at UCSD:

In 2002, UC San Diego became one of 23 charter member of the California Climate Action Registry and as such, pledged to calculate and publicly report its GHG emissions according to the California Registry’s standards.  Registry members drove concrete policy changes and related actions, such as the approval of Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), and regulations to reduce emissions.  worked to ensure proper recognition from the state for early actions to reduce emissions.

In 2007, UC San Diego, along with the other UC campuses, became a “charter signatory” to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), now known as the Second Nature's Carbon Commitment

In 2008, UC San Diego approved its first campus Climate Action Plan (CAP)  with the overall goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2025 through the implemention of State and UC climate policies and objectives, including:

  • Reducing GHG emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.
  • Implementing existing building energy retrofits and constructing new high-performance, energy-efficient buildings to acquire certification under the LEED rating system
  • Adding new campus renewable energy supplies and procuring clean energy from the UC Wholesale Power Purchase program
  • Converting campus vehicles to alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technology
  • Expanding and incentivizing (through discounted passes) commuter transportation and business travel options

Consequently, UCSD has been nationally recognized for its leadership and innovation in applying state-of-the-art energy management practices to minimize campus environmental impacts, efforts that have resulted in reduced energy use and carbon emissions, in spite of continuing campus growth

Although CAP goals and practices focus largely on campus operations, students have played an important role in driving these and other sustainability initiatives at UCSD and the UC more broadly.  In November 2013, the UC President built upon student-led efforts in implementing a carbon neutrality initiative (CNI) to make University of California operations carbon neutral in scope 1 (direct) and 2 (indirect) emissions by 2025. This initiative

  • requires campuses to achieve full carbon neutrality including emissions from campus commuters and business air travel by 2050.
  • As an interim step, requires campuses to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act.

In response to a climate change mitigation strategy to meet UC Carbon Neutrality Goals designed by UCSD’s Student Sustainability Collective (SSC), between 2016 and 2018, meetings and discussions among faculty, students, staff, community representatives and other stakeholder led to a 2019 revision of the CAP.  While much of the CAP continues to focus on campus operations, it also embraces the “vision of a student-centered university using experiential learning techniques  … to gain real-world experience.” 

UCSD has numerous interdisciplinary academic and research programs drawing on scientific, technological and social science expertise to provide climate change education focused on finding clean energy solutions for the future.

Climate Science and Policy Program:

“CNI Student Fellows” program provides students an opportunity to engage in projects ranging from climate action planning to carbon offset studies.

Thus, involvement in the CAP process allows students to learn by doing, gaining valuable problem solving and leadership skills as they tackle the complex, inter-connected issues involved in climate planning and achieving carbon neutrality.  Relatedly, educational and research opportunities for students and faculty will be integral to successful CAP implementation and to ensuring that students remain fully engaged in the process.

Until its replacement by the 2023 "Carbon Free" initiative outlined above, UCSD efforts to increase sustainability continued to work towards the 2025 target for the UC Carbon Neutrality Iniatitive stated above (making University of California operations carbon neutral in scope 1 (direct) and 2 (indirect) emissions in the next 6 years).  To achieve this goal, this update to the campus’ Climate Action Plan provides a recommended set of core “carbon reduction measures” that will help the University meet its GHG emission commitments, while also providing a cost-effective approach to meeting the campus’ future energy needs.  In addition to eventual consideration for decarbonizing the cogeneration plant, the campus may invest in localized energy generation projects, such as anaerobic digester(s) or a small-scale biomass power plant, assuming the allocation of suitable sites for these facilities. It is also projected that by 2025 as much as 40% of the campus’ natural gas supply could be from renewable bio-methane gas supplied by the UC Energy Services Unit.

 

Librarian

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Sarah Buck Kachaluba
Contact:
Geisel Library (west wing)
858-534-1270