Sustainability Annual Report 2024
For the third consecutive year, Practice Greenhealth named UC Davis Health (UCDH) one of the top 25 hospitals in the country for sustainability. UCDH received a number of other accolades this year.
The United States Resiliency Council awarded UCDH with platinum resiliency recognition for Parking Structure 4, making it the first university to receive this honor. Health Care Without Harm honored UCDH with the Gold Climate Resilience Award and the Silver Climate Leadership Award for its work championing climate action in the health care sector.
Read More about Sustainability at UC Davis Health
UCDH started a clinical-based, nurse-driven sustainability and waste subcommittee, the first of its kind. This subcommittee will focus on identifying and implementing clinical waste reduction opportunities.
UCDH took actions to reduce waste across its enterprise. It implemented a standardized recycling program, which will divert an estimated 18 tons of waste annually. Additionally, UCDH launched a pilot program in partnership with MATTER Medical, an organization that collects opened or expired but still usable medical supplies and redistributes these supplies to underserved populations around the world. UCDH formed a project task force to launch this program in six nursing units and rescued over 800 pounds of supplies in just a couple of months. Finally, after assessing that up to 90% of the contents in bundled kits, such as comfort kits and admission bins, are thrown away, UCDH eliminated both kits and provided the option for items to be purchased individually on an as-needed basis. This change resulted in eliminating over 2,000 pounds of waste per month, on average.
Stories
UCDH Launches Sustainability Suggestion Box
The newly formed Clinical Practice Council Sustainability Subcommittee launched the UC Davis Health Sustainability Suggestion Box. Staff are encouraged to use it to share ideas for creating more sustainable practices at UC Davis Health.
UCDH Hosts First-Ever Sustainability Summit
UCDH hosted its first-ever Sustainability Summit, open to any and all internal UC Davis Health staff, faculty and students with nearly 100 registered attendees. The summit highlighted presentations on successful sustainability initiatives happening throughout the medical center, followed by recognition of sustainability champions, who were honored for their work and leadership as early adopters, trailblazers and ambassadors of sustainability.
ENERGY USE INTENSITY (EUI)
UC Davis Health saw a decrease in its EUI in the calendar year 2023.
FOOD
of food and beverage purchases met sustainability criteria ($3.5M)
of food and beverage purchases were plant-based ($2.8M)
UC Davis Health’s sustainable food spend exceeded the systemwide goal, but decreased slightly in fiscal year 2024. One main reason for this change was that the location’s dairy supplier could no longer meet the local and sustainable criteria specified by Practice Greenhealth. The edible food waste capture program thrived, diverting overage meals to UC Davis Health’s food recovery partner Copia and away from landfill. Remaining food from patient trays from the main hospital are now being composted.
Green building
UC Davis Health constructed one new Gold-certified LEED building, the UC Davis Health Eye Center Addition, which earned seven points for cooling tower water use, water metering, and outdoor and indoor water use reduction. UC Davis Health also renovated one Silver certified building, bringing the total to two LEED certifications in fiscal year 2023–24. UC Davis Health has three occupied all-electric buildings, three under construction and one in the planning phase. The campus also has one Parksmart-certified parking structure.
1 Platinum, 9 Gold and 1 Silver
Total number of LEED certifications
procurement
green spend on appliances and IT hardware (97%)
green spend on office supplies (62%)
cost savings through medical device reprocessing (representing 25,630 pounds of waste avoided)
UCDH is revamping its medical device reprocessing program with the goal of improving collections, increasing product categories collected and the purchase of reprocessed items. For office supplies, UCDH engaged its primary provider to offer visible tools to identify green alternatives as well as restrict paper purchases to recycled products. UCDH procurement worked with its information technology hardware provider to utilize data to drive more sustainable procurement decisions.
Green spend is defined as meeting preferred or minimum criteria in UC’s Sustainable Procurement Guidelines.
Suppliers reporting: Appliances and IT hardware (6), Office supplies (1).
“Reprocessing” refers to the FDA-approved re-manufacturing process carried out on a used device, including cleaning, disinfection, sterilization, testing and related procedures to allow its safe reuse. This process allows health facilities to reduce their reliance on single-use devices.
Transportation
of students and employees are utilizing sustainable commuting methods
of all vehicles and 50% of sedans and minivans acquired in 2024 were electric (zero-emission), plug-in hybrid or clean transportation fuel
EV charging ports
Fiscal year 2023–24 brought many successes to the sustainable transportation program. In September 2023, UCDH launched a new express bus from Elk Grove. UC Davis Health held its first adult bike riding classes in October 2023. Construction of a bike room in a newly constructed parking garage is underway. The bike room will have accessory lockers, a mirror, benches, a water bottle filling station and space for 120 bikes.
WATER
*Based on a 3-year average of fiscal years 2005-08
**2025 goal is a 36% reduction from baseline.
UC Davis Health focused on water-saving measures throughout the campus by installing drought-tolerant, climate-ready landscaping and high-efficiency irrigation systems including flow-sensor, remote monitoring, and a continued focus on the turf reduction master plan. Areas of focus included Parking Structures 5, 6 and 7, Aggie Square, 48X Complex Outpatient Surgery Center and the Stockton Boulevard/Cypress Building.
ZERO WASTE – GENERATION
*Per capita figures are calculated using Adjusted Patient Day (APD).
**Data provided if not counted in other waste streams.
UCDH implemented a standardized recycling program in fiscal year 2023–24, which will save 18 tons annually. A project task force formed to implement a pilot with a company called MATTER Medical that collects unopened and opened but still usable expired supplies and equipment that would otherwise be landfilled, and sends them to underserved populations around the world. The pilot is being implemented in six nursing units and has diverted over 800 pounds of supplies from landfill. Additionally, efforts are underway to assess the ability to recycle disposable curtains and reuse pillows.
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.
A working group formed to pilot the implementation of reusable utensils at one UCDH cafe. The pilot aims to create a proof of concept to eliminate or drastically reduce single-use utensils in all UCDH eateries.
Awards
For the third consecutive year, Practice Greenhealth named UC Davis Health one of the top 25 hospitals in the country for sustainability. UC Davis Health earned the Gold Climate Resilience Award and the Silver Climate Leadership Award from Health Care Without Harm’s Health Care Climate Challenge. The United States Resiliency Council awarded UC Davis Health with a Platinum rating for Parking Structure 4. The award makes UC Davis Health the first university to receive this honor.
A full list of awards is featured on the UC Office of the President’s website.
Combined Data
Progress on the following policy areas for this Health System is reported by the campus location: