Policy Progress

Beyond decarbonization and climate action planning, systemwide working groups responsible for individual sustainability policy sections incorporated equity considerations into proposed policy updates for sustainable transportation and sustainable water systems, as well as grant funding processes for green laboratory operations and single-use plastics reduction. For example, the Sustainable Operations and Laboratories Working Group held collaborative discussions with working group representatives from each campus to understand each campus’s unique needs and priorities. This inclusive approach ensured that all campuses could utilize grant funding effectively. As another example, the Sustainable Transportation Working Group developed updated policy language and the “Electric vehicle ramp-up guide,” which includes strategies for reducing disparities in fleet electrification and charging infrastructure.

This year, the UC Global Climate Leadership Council continued to fund technical assistance to advance sustainable food supply chain sourcing and dining practices, as well as a Bonnie Reiss Sustainable Food Services Fellowship to support UC Dining Services with sustainable food sourcing and data collection. Project outcomes included connecting campuses with local and sustainable producers and food hubs, holding an event with campus chefs to streamline meat product purchasing across the system to reduce cost and increase sustainable spend, modifying language in requests for proposals to prioritize sustainable food options and developing a toolkit for fellows supporting Dining Services. 

Concurrently, UC campuses continued to face significant challenges, including food cost inflation and budget cuts, as well as continuing difficulties with data tracking and reporting. As a result, nine locations were able to increase their sustainable food spend, while others saw reductions. Sustainable food spend represented 16% of food purchases on campuses and 23% of purchases at health centers in fiscal year 2024–25. This amounts to over $35 million going to sustainable food suppliers. 

Of the University’s total food and beverage spend, 31%, or over $63 million, was on plant-based food items. Ten locations are already on track to meet the policy goal of at least 25% spend on plant-based food by 2030.

The Sustainable Food Services Working Group is using lessons learned from engagement across the system and reviewing updated standards from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and Practice Greenhealth to develop updated systemwide food policy goals. 

In the past fiscal year, UC locations reported 14 new LEED-certified green building projects: three Platinum, nine Gold, and two Silver certifications. UC’s total LEED certifications now include 467 projects, representing approximately 41 million square feet. The past year saw an increase in the University’s all-electric building portfolio, which now comprises 45 buildings, exceeding 4.5 million square feet of occupied space. An additional six facilities (1 million square feet) use only electricity for space and water heating. UC campuses continue to add to this total, with another 50 all-electric buildings in planning, design and construction phases, totaling almost 11 million square feet. UC locations are pursuing Parksmart certification for nine new parking projects, adding to the University’s five existing certified facilities.

The Green Building Working Group has proposed an update to the Sustainable Practices Policy that would require monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx) throughout the first year of a new building project’s occupancy. This is an opportunity to ensure that building systems perform as designed while taking advantage of the contractor’s warranty period to make no-cost corrections. By making a small investment in MBCx, the University will reduce energy use, capture cost savings, ensure equipment longevity and optimize thermal comfort for occupants.

This year, the Sustainable Procurement Working Group began a process of updating the Sustainable Procurement Guidelines to address implementation challenges and changing regulations. Updates will include the replacement of the Economically and Socially Responsible Spend section with the Economic and Community Impact Spend section to better support UC’s local economy and communities, changes to the foodware section to address composting challenges and updates to the furniture section to facilitate implementation.  

The University also continued to improve its process of collecting sustainable campus procurement data. The UC Procurement Analytics team analyzed data for over $138 million in total campus spend from 32 suppliers for the 2024–25 fiscal year; this represents a 51% increase in the amount of spend analyzed from the prior year. Within that spend, the University found that 62% of electronics, 84% of indoor office furniture, 53% of cleaning supplies and 20% of office supplies met UC’s requirements on minimum or preferred green spend, as outlined in the Sustainable Procurement Guidelines. This represents nearly $88 million in spend on products meeting green certification standards. UC Health locations also reported their green spend on office supplies and electronics and contributed an additional $21 million in spend on products meeting green certification standards. Analysis of UC’s support of small businesses, presented to the state each year, can be found online.

Trademarks and Licensing

The UC Code of Conduct for Trademark Licensees Steering Committee met throughout the 2024–25 academic year to collectively assess trademark licensees’ progress in meeting the contractually binding UC Trademark Licensing Code of Conduct sustainability standards.

The committee discussed current and emerging developments affecting UC campuses’ trademark licensees’ adherence to the code, including:

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s enforcement of recent federal tariffs on products of all kinds and the impact that these tariffs are having on UC campus licensees and their supply chains’ treatment of workers.
• Identification of UC licensees that source their products from production facilities in Pakistan and are required to sign the Pakistan Accord for health and safety in the textiles and garment industry, a legally binding agreement to achieve safe factories with the agreement of apparel businesses, international unions, worker advocacy organizations and the International Labor Organization. Signatories include a growing list of licensee and international apparel brands, encompassing more than 90% of licensees that have disclosed manufacturing sources in Pakistan for UC campuses’ products.
• Individual licensees’ manufacturing partners’ remediation of workplace rights and conditions violations.
• The implications of SB 707 California Responsible Textile Recovery Act on apparel licensee businesses.

Overall, the global impact of the University of California’s licensed product manufacturing extends to 48 countries where more than 4,400 disclosed suppliers manufacture for 369 licensee companies that are licensed to use UC campus trademarks on products that are sold to the public.

In 2024–25, the overall (student and employee) single-occupancy-vehicle (SOV) rate for the University of California was approximately 25%. This means over 75% of students, faculty and staff utilized a sustainable commute option, such as telecommuting or commuting to campus by walking, biking, taking transit, or in a vanpool or carpool. However, despite this progress, only seven of the 13 locations that reported data are on track to meet the goal of reducing SOV commute rates by 10%. 

The focus of the UC Global Climate Leadership Council (GCLC) this academic year is on transportation emissions, with deep dives planned into fleet, commuting and business travel. The GCLC plans to propose new policies, programs and best practices for reducing transportation emissions. In parallel, the systemwide Sustainable Transportation Working Group developed recommendations to update sustainable transportation goals in alignment with the University’s long-term climate goals. The proposed policy updates are currently under review and will be published in spring 2026.

Systemwide, 51% of all new fleet vehicles (light, medium and heavy-duty) acquired in fiscal year 2024–25 were battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, or another qualifying clean transportation fuel vehicle, up 2% from the previous year. UC’s goal is that alternatively powered vehicles account for at least 50% of all vehicle acquisitions at each campus (regardless of vehicle size). Systemwide, 70% of all sedans and minivans acquired meet the UC policy, falling short of the ambitious goal of 100%. 

UC locations now host over 2,400 active electric vehicle (EV) charging ports, an increase of approximately 10% from last year, along with many additional EV-ready spaces to support fleet and commuter vehicles.

Total water consumption systemwide increased slightly in 2024–25 compared with the previous year. Ten out of 15 locations are on track to meet the growth-adjusted water conservation goal of reducing potable water consumption by 36% by the end of 2025–26. Locations that are not yet on track to meet the goal cited a range of technical challenges, including increases in square footage growth that do not correlate with population growth, aggressive water conservation programs prior to the baseline period, limited recycled water supplies to offset potable water use and limited funding.

The University continued to advance water conservation by advancing UC policy for equitable access to safe drinking water and sharing resources and funding opportunities related to water recycling.