Take Sustainability Classes
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 or -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. Together, the percentage of courses offered that are sustainability-focused or sustainability-related at UC Berkeley totals 47% of all campus courses offered at the graduate and undergraduate level. Moreover, sustainability course offerings come from 115 different departments out of 129, totaling 89%; and these classes don't come only from perhaps more predictable departments such as Environmental Science, Policy, and Management.
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 that are critical for addressing sustainability challenges (e.g., social and ethical responsibility).
See the full list of courses. This inventory, covering 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(link is external), which judges campuses on academic coursework and dozens of other sustainability metrics.
UC Berkeley also offers a wide range of 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 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 here: UC Berkeley’s Sustainability Curriculum & the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2021, a second course mapping was conducted of the 2017-2020 UC Berkeley Course Catalog in relation to the UN SDGs. After evaluation, over 2079 courses from the UC Berkeley’s 2021 Sustainability Course Inventory fit the SDG criteria. Learn more about the report here.
"Unofficial" guide to fall 2022 climate-related courses
Berkeley Climate Change Network (BCCN) has put together this Unofficial Guide to Fall 2022 Climate-Related Courses.