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UC Berkeley’s sustainability course offerings make up almost 50% of all campus courses

At the undergraduate level, UC Berkeley offers almost 800 sustainability-focused courses and about 1,150 sustainability-related courses, making 50% of all undergraduate classes sustainability-focused/related. 

At the graduate level, UC Berkeley offers over 530 graduate sustainability-focused courses and roughly 750 sustainability-related courses, making about 43% of all graduate classes sustainability-focused or -related. 

Combining undergraduate and graduate offerings, 47% of UC Berkeley courses are sustainability-focused or sustainability-related. Moreover, sustainability course offerings come from 89% of departments (115 of 129).

Students can dive into the global history of ecologically conscious art, architecture, cinema, sustainable design, and urban planning (HISTART 105) or learn how environmental concerns have shaped the history of American landscape architecture since 1850 (AMERSTD C171). Through the American Cultures course requirement, every Berkeley undergraduate takes a course with material that is sustainability-supportive, preparing students with specific skills for addressing social and ethical dimensions of sustainability. 

The full list of courses, from the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 academic years, is a product of UC Berkeley's 2021 submission to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System v.2.2. STARS judges campuses on academic coursework and dozens of other sustainability metrics.

UC Berkeley also offers a wide range of sustainability-related degree programs, including almost 30 graduate degree programs, over 25 undergraduate programs, and almost 20 minors. 

Students working towards these credentials find additional intellectual camaraderie in Berkeley’s many research centers related to the environment and sustainability.

Mapping courses to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In 2020, a team of student OS fellows mapped over 600 sustainability courses from the 2015-2018 course catalog to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Read the full report: UC Berkeley’s Sustainability Curriculum & the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2021, a second course mapping of the 2017-2020 UC Berkeley Course Catalog to the UN SDGs demonstrated that over 2079 courses from UC Berkeley’s 2021 Sustainability Course Inventory fit the SDG criteria.

Extension Education

UC Berkeley Extension Education, or "UNEX" has an extensive range of sustainability programs and courses, which make up 10 percent of UC Berkeley Extension course offerings. Extension Education classes can be taken to supplement regular course offerings, for self-enrichment, or to earn a certificate. Sustainability courses include sustainable design, energy for sustainability, and environmental monitoring.

More Information

See the Campus Initiative section of this site under Academics and Learning for more information on sustainability-related learning opportunities and educational goals at UC Berkeley.

Fiat Lux

student reading a book on the edge of the Hearst Mining reflection pool

Student reading a book on the edge of the Hearst Mining reflection pool

student working on laptop in a eucalyptus groveStudying in the quietude of a eucalyptus grove