Sustainability Annual Report 2024
UC Irvine made progress toward more sustainable operations this past year, with an overall goal of reducing carbon emissions.
The campus saw a 7% drop in emissions due to the removal of fuel cells at the medical center and temporary outages at the cogeneration plant. In addition, UC Irvine recently completed a decarbonization study to analyze the possible opportunities to further reduce its environmental impact. It continues to bring equity into the process by integrating its proposed Climate Action Plan and Long-Range Development Plan with climate resilience strategies.
Read More about Sustainability at UC Irvine
In transportation services, UC Irvine committed to ensuring that at least 50% of all future fleet acquisitions consist of zero- or low-emission vehicles, supporting a greener campus environment. This year, UC Irvine added five new electric buses to the Anteater Express — bringing the all-electric fleet total up to 25. Transportation Services also supports commuters on bikes by providing infrastructure and programming to raise awareness. Its signature uciRIDEtoberfest featured bike safety inspections, merchandise booths and sustainable commuting resources. The campus hopes to support other forms of micromobility and alternative transit in the future.
The campus has also been a leader in constructing all-electric buildings, with the addition of the Joe C. Wen and Family Advanced Care Center this past year. UC Irvine is proud of its portfolio of 40 LEED certified projects, 28 of which are LEED Platinum.
Stories
UC Irvine Leads Regional Project To Reduce Climate Change Risks in California
UCI is leading a collaborative project, Wildland-Urban Interface Climate Action Network, to reduce climate risks in Southern California by integrating Indigenous knowledge and community insights into climate solutions. The project focuses on climate education, environmental justice and creating a manual for effective climate strategies.
Bridging State, Local Climate Action
The UCI School of Law launched the Integrated and Equitable Climate Action project to align local land-use plans with California’s climate goals and promote equitable adaptation strategies. This initiative aims to bridge state and local climate policies by integrating them with civil rights laws and environmental justice.
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
UC Irvine saw a 4% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023. The decrease in emissions can be attributed to transitioning all purchased electricity to the UCOP Clean Power Program, periodic outages at the cogeneration plant and the removal of fuel cells at the medical center.
ENERGY – RENEWABLE ENERGY USE
ENERGY USE INTENSITY (EUI)
UC Irvine saw a decrease in its EUI in the calendar year 2023.
FOOD
of food and beverage purchases met sustainability criteria ($3.3M)
of food and beverage purchases were plant-based ($2.9M)
UC Irvine spends close to 31% of its total food and beverage spending on sustainable options. The campus continued to work with its dining partner, Aramark, to offer climate-friendly meal options that are defined as Cool Food Meals, which are certified by the World Resource Institute to have a lower impact on the environment.
Green building
In 2024, UC Irvine proudly constructed the fully electric Joe C. Wen and Family Advanced Care Center, the first building of the new all-electric UCI Health — Irvine campus. UC Irvine is committed to environmental stewardship and sustainable construction, as demonstrated by its portfolio of 41 LEED-certified projects, including 22 that are rated Platinum.
22 Platinum, 13 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Certified
Total number of LEED certifications
procurement
green spend on electronics (92%)
green spend on indoor office furniture (83%)
green spend on cleaning supplies (59%)
green spend on office supplies (27%)
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 (7), Furniture (6), Cleaning supplies (3), Office supplies (2).
UC Systemwide Spend Analytics category data provided by CalUSource.
Sustainable Building & Laboratory Operations
This program was placed on hiatus this past year, thus no new labs were certified. The program is slated to resume in academic year 2024–25 with a streamlined certification and recertification process in addition to the continued disbursal of the Fisher Scientific grants. UC Irvine hopes to engage more labs in meaningful sustainability practices with the refresh of the program.
total assessed green laboratories
Transportation
of students and employees are utilizing sustainable commuting methods
of all vehicles and 0% of sedans and minivans acquired in 2024 were electric (zero-emission), plug-in hybrid or clean transportation fuel
EV charging ports
This year, the Anteater Express, UCI’s fully electric bus system, added five new buses to its fleet, bringing the total number of electric buses to 25. UC Irvine is committed to sustainability, ensuring that at least 50% of all future fleet acquisitions consist of zero or low-emission vehicles. This year, UCI surpassed its goal with 83% of vehicle acquisitions being zero emissions (ZEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or clean transport.
WATER
*Based on a 3-year average of fiscal years 2005-08
**2025 goal is a 36% reduction from baseline.
Over the past year, the campus observed a 7% increase in water usage per weighted campus user. Despite this, UCI successfully reduced its overall water consumption by 57% compared with the baseline year. Additionally, 37% of all water used on campus is reclaimed water.
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 Irvine’s waste generation increased. In the future, UC Irvine seeks to work with campus partners to reduce waste generation, such as by enforcing or incentivizing purchases of more sustainable choices.
ZERO WASTE – DIVERsion
*Waste incineration was counted as diversion prior to July 2022.
This year, organic waste diversion rates plummeted, and UC Irvine is investigating causes. The campus continued to engage its community around waste reduction and was recently honored in the Campus Race to Zero Waste competition for its effective and well-attended Green Events. EarthReps Ambassadors serve as “Trash Talkers” at campus events and teach peers how to properly dispose of waste.
Single-Use Plastics Phase-Out
Complete Phase-out*
- Foodware in UC dining facilities
- Foodware in third-party dining facilities
- Beverage bottles in UC dining facilities
- Beverage bottles in vending machines
Partial Phase-out
- Plastic bags
Starting Soon
- N/A
*Complete phase-out of single-use plastics may include exemptions where reasonable alternatives to plastic do not exist.
UC Irvine successfully eliminated the distribution of plastic bags and single-use plastic foodware in all facilities except some third-party retailers. It is working on its Pouring Rights contract to further reduce the presence of single-use plastics on campus.
Awards
UC Irvine was proud to maintain its status as a Platinum-rated Bicycle Friendly University for the 14th year in a row. In addition, it retained its status as a Tree Campus USA by the Arbor Foundation. In academic year 2024–25, the campus is seeking to renew its AASHE STARS ranking, which expired in October.
A full list of awards is featured on the UC Office of the President’s website.
