Mission and History
The new Office of Sustainability, which opened its doors in January 2008, is another step by the campus toward achieving our long-term sustainability goals, fostering a culture of sustainability at the organizational and individual levels, and integrating sustainability into the classroom. The Office will be working closely with many other campus sustainability organizations and efforts.
The UC Berkeley campus strives to be an environmental leader and a more sustainable organization as part of our fundamental missions:
We teach our community about environmental problems and sustainable solutions
We do research that increases our knowledge about pressing issues like energy usage and climate change
We provide public service by reducing the impacts of the campus on the natural environment
There are a broad range of topics being addressed in some of the early work of the Office of Sustainability, related to both existing and new projects:
- continuing the analysis and implementation of our Cal Climate Action Partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2014
- helping to prepare Chancellor Birgeneau's recent Congressional testimony on what our campus is doing to reduce emissions
- working with multiple staff to plan energy efficiency projects in our buildings and to account directly for the energy and carbon savings from these projects
- updating the 2005 Campus Sustainability Assessment and producing a broader Campus Sustainability Plan
The campus has numerous "green" initiatives; projects to reduce our environmental impact, the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability, environmental courses and degree programs, and student sustainability-related organizations and more. We have been recognized for our efforts: listed as the 7th "Greenest College in America" (for the UC system), received an Environmental Achievement Award from the US EPA, and named one of the "50 Schools That Will Help Your Kids Help the Planet."