Sustainability Annual Report 2024
For the eighth year in a row the University of California, Davis, was recognized as the “greenest” campus in North America in the 2023 UI GreenMetric World University Rankings.
Progress toward campus-wide decarbonization continues at a large scale, such as through UCD’s Big Shift, and more focused scales, such as the all-electric renovation of the Gorman Museum of Native American Art building.
Read More about Sustainability at UC Davis
Students continued to voice support for sustainability, including voting to use student fees to reinstate The Green Initiative Fund, a sustainability project funding program, through academic year 2030–31. Progress toward zero waste efforts advanced through the launch of a collaborative pilot lab coat recycling program with Student Housing and Dining Services and the Green Workplace program. Sustainability and Grounds teams helped campus staff begin to “Get Re-used” to choosing plastic-free options and sorting stations at the Thank Goodness for Staff event, attended by thousands.
Making progress toward UC Davis’s sustainability goals extended beyond campus. UC Davis excelled in sharing best practices through information dissemination and using the campus as a learning environment. The Energy Efficiency Institute made global contributions, including through presentations on net-zero energy and partnerships for industrial decarbonization. The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden launched a massive enhancement project to increase resiliency to climate change while activating and educating communities through sustainable efforts, such as cork bark harvesting and climate change-focused research on plant-insect interactions. The arboretum also partnered with Student Health Services and Healthy UC Davis on a pilot nature prescription program, emphasizing the connection between environmental and whole-body wellness.
Stories
How Investing in Building Optimization Saved UC Davis $11 Million in Energy Costs
A decision by campus leadership to invest in a small team of employees to reduce energy consumption by optimizing building controls and systems is showing $11 million in energy savings nine years later, covering the cost of the team’s salaries and more. The Energy and Engineering team’s ability to build long-term relationships with building stakeholders, allowing for continued knowledge sharing and maintenance of energy savings, is its key to success.
UC Davis Awarded $4.77M Grant to Convert Food Waste, Power Unitrans
Campus efforts to tackle food waste are a result of collaboration with campus, city and county food recovery programs. UC Davis is using CalRecycle grant funds to increase the Renewable Energy Anaerobic Digester facility’s food waste processing capacity to target food waste in the landfill, one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
EMISSIONS
*Interim goals for 2030, 2035 and 2040 to be developed through fossil-free planning that is underway at each location
**90% direct reduction of total emissions from 2019 levels with residual emissions negated by carbon removal
In-person activity continued to increase, along with commuting and air travel emissions, which remained lower than pre-pandemic years. Overall the campus saw a reduction in scope 2 emissions, driven by increased solar and hydro power purchases. With the completion of phase I of the Big Shift, the steam-to-hot-water conversion project that will increase energy efficiency and reduce fossil fuel use on campus, in early 2023, overall purchased electricity and natural gas consumption decreased. UC Davis remains committed to obtaining 100% clean electricity by 2025.
ENERGY – RENEWABLE ENERGY USE
ENERGY USE INTENSITY (EUI)
UC Davis saw an increase in its EUI in the calendar year 2023.
FOOD
of food and beverage purchases met sustainability criteria ($2M)
of food and beverage purchases were plant-based ($6.4M)
UC Davis spent a total of $22 million on food and beverage purchases with a 9% spend on items that met sustainability criteria. In recent years sourcing sustainable food has been challenging due to food supply shortages. In fiscal year 2023–24, food supply shortages improved, coinciding with a slight increase in sustainable food and beverage spend. UC Davis Student Housing and Dining also improved its tracking process for sustainable food and beverage purchases. UC Davis dining operations continue to meet the plant-based spend goal.
Green building
UC Davis is making consistent strides in increasing the number of LEED-certified buildings on campus. The UC Davis main campus constructed one new Gold certified LEED building, the UC Davis Engineering Student Design Center, which earned five points for water efficient landscaping and water use reduction. UC Davis also renovated two Gold-certified buildings, bringing the total to three LEED certifications in fiscal year 2023–24. The UC Davis main campus has 11 occupied all-electric buildings, one under construction and one in the design phase.
11 Platinum, 31 Gold, 8 Silver and 1 Certified
Total number of LEED certifications
procurement
green spend on electronics (56%)
green spend on indoor office furniture (88%)
green spend on cleaning supplies (45%)
green spend on office supplies (34%)
The University reports on green spend, as defined in the Sustainable Procurement Guidelines, and reached out to suppliers for spend data in four product categories for this year’s report.
Green spend is defined as meeting preferred or minimum criteria in UC’s Sustainable Procurement Guidelines.
Suppliers reporting: Electronics (11), Furniture (7), Cleaning supplies (4), Office supplies (4).
UC Systemwide Spend Analytics category data provided by CalUSource.
Sustainable Building & Laboratory Operations
Seven labs have completed the certification process through the Green Workplace program hosted by UCD Sustainability, and eight lab certifications are in progress. Lab certifications last three years, at which point labs need to recertify in order to maintain active certification status. With support from the University of California Office of the President, Fisher Scientific provided $20,000 to UC Davis to support green workplace efforts. During fiscal year 2023–24, Green Workplace distributed more than $12,600 in rebates to five labs and one office.
total assessed green laboratories
Transportation
of students and employees are utilizing sustainable commuting methods
of all vehicles and 88% of sedans and minivans acquired in 2024 were electric (zero-emission), plug-in hybrid or clean transportation fuel
EV charging ports
The 2023 UC Davis Campus Travel Survey showed a minor decrease in telecommuting and a slight increase in single-occupancy-vehicle (SOV), bike and micromobility use by employees, suggesting that more employees are working in person than in the 2022–23 fiscal year. Student SOV commuting went down by about 3 percentage points, while student transit commuting went up by about 4 percentage points, implying increased student utilization of the campus bus system. Whole-campus use of SOV commuting, 26% of the overall mode split, is slightly higher than the baseline.
WATER
*Based on a 3-year average of fiscal years 2005-08
**2025 goal is a 36% reduction from baseline.
UC Davis saw no significant change in potable water use in fiscal year 2023–24. The campus saw a 34% reduction of potable water usage per capita compared with the baseline year, 2 percentage points away from the 2025 target reduction.
ZERO WASTE – GENERATION
*These numbers might include a small amount of incineration that is being phased out.
**In 2021, waste generation per weighted campus user spiked due to pandemic-related closures as base-level operations continued but the number of users on campus decreased.
UC Davis waste generation did not change significantly from the previous year. In fiscal year 2023–24 the campus produced 1.5 pounds of waste per person each day, an increase of 26% compared with the 2015 baseline.
ZERO WASTE – DIVERsion
*Waste incineration was counted as diversion prior to July 2022.
UC Davis diverted 12,757 tons, or 65%, of all waste, excluding construction and demolition, in fiscal year 2023–24. This represents a slight decrease in diversion compared with fiscal year 2022–23.
Single-Use Plastics Phase-Out
Complete Phase-out*
- Plastic bags
Partial Phase-out
- Foodware in UC dining facilities
- Foodware in third-party dining facilities
- Beverage bottles in UC dining facilities
- Beverage bottles in vending machines
Starting Soon
- N/A
*Complete phase-out of single-use plastics may include exemptions where reasonable alternatives to plastic do not exist.
Since the campus Pouring Rights contract was up for renewal, a dedicated campus working group assessed needs for a new contract, including considerations for the single-use plastics (SUP) policy goals. UC Davis Sustainability and Grounds teams collaborated with UC Davis Staff Assembly to bring a water truck for water bottle refilling to Thank Goodness for Staff, an event that draws thousands of staff. The campus also developed a “Get Re-used to it” campaign that includes a website with information on the SUP policy.
Awards
UC Davis maintains a Gold rating in STARS 2.2, valid until 2026. The campus continues to be named the #1 Greenest University in North America (fifth in the world) by University of Indonesia’s GreenMetric World University Ranking. The American Public Gardens Association awarded the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden’s innovative Learning by Leading program, which engages students in hands-on environmental leadership roles, with the Program Excellence Award.
A full list of awards is featured on the UC Office of the President’s website.
