Sustainability Annual Report 2024
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
While UC Merced continues to purchase voluntary carbon offsets to remain a carbon neutral campus for scopes 1 and 2 emissions, the campus has a redirected focus on investing in projects that support direct emission reductions for current fossil fuel systems. Planning efforts are underway to assess the electrification of future campus development.
ENERGY – RENEWABLE ENERGY USE
ENERGY USE INTENSITY (EUI)
Between 2018 and 2020, UC Merced’s 2020 Project added approximately 1.2 million gross square feet of buildings. Almost a third of this new space consists of very energy intensive laboratories — a much higher ratio than the rest of the Merced campus. As a result, adding these lab buildings has increased the overall campus EUI as they came online starting in 2019. The energy efficiency policy does not account for such a large increase in high intensity space, and updated reporting approaches are being investigated.
FOOD
of food and beverage purchases met sustainability criteria ($1.5M)
of food and beverage purchases were plant-based ($114K)
Nearly 20% of UC Merced’s food spend was on sustainable food in fiscal year 2024. Due to reporting challenges, including staffing changes and limited data available from vendors, the campus is likely underreporting sustainable food spend, explaining the decrease from last fiscal year.
Green building
The number of green buildings stayed the same since last year.
19 Platinum, 11 Gold and 2 Silver
Total number of LEED certifications
procurement
green spend on electronics (46%)
green spend on indoor office furniture (93%)
green spend on cleaning supplies (56%)
green spend on office supplies (4%)
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 (5), Cleaning supplies (6), Office supplies (3).
UC Systemwide Spend Analytics category data provided by CalUSource.
Sustainable Building & Laboratory Operations
UC Merced had one lab certified this year. Three labs are currently being assessed. The program has been difficult to manage without a department to help the current green lab intern as well as many labs moving into new spaces on campus with the opening of the Biomedical Building. UC Merced hopes to revamp this program when staffing is stabilized.
total assessed green laboratories
Transportation
of all vehicles and 100% of sedans and minivans acquired in 2024 were electric (zero-emission), plug-in hybrid or clean transportation fuel
EV charging ports
WATER
*Based on a 3-year average of fiscal years 2005-08
**2025 goal is a 36% reduction from baseline.
As the campus continued to grow, water usage increased. The campus engaged in outreach to students to increase awareness of practices they can implement to reduce on-site water consumption.
ZERO WASTE – GENERATION
*These numbers might include a small amount of incineration that is being phased out.
UC Merced’s total waste per capita was about 0.5 pounds per person per day, which was an 18% increase from the 2022–23 fiscal year.
ZERO WASTE – DIVERsion
*Waste incineration was counted as diversion prior to July 2022.
No data is available for 2019.
UC Merced’s diversion rate without construction and demolition was 41%, which was an 8 percentage point increase from previous years. Dining has been working on improving back-of-house recycling, which resulted in a dramatic increase in recycling numbers this fiscal year.
Single-Use Plastics Phase-Out
Complete Phase-out*
- Foodware in third-party dining facilities
Partial Phase-out
- Plastic bags
- Foodware in UC dining facilities
- Beverage bottles in UC dining facilities
Starting Soon
- Beverage bottles in vending machines
*Complete phase-out of single-use plastics may include exemptions where reasonable alternatives to plastic do not exist.
UC Merced reduced plastics in dining operations. The campus is utilizing reusables and identifying alternatives for the remaining single-use plastic items. Going forward, UC Merced is working on phasing out single-use plastics at its retail locations, such as bookstores and snack shops.
Awards
UC Merced received the 2023 Urban Land Institute Americas Awards for Excellence for the 2020 Master Architect Project.
A full list of awards is featured on the UC Office of the President’s website.
