Updated September 2018
Office Initiatives
TGIF Student Team
This project adds two key graduate and undergraduate student leadership positions to the Office of Sustainability team, to help us reach the next level of campus sustainability by 2020, and beyond.
Students will help the Office produce numerous sustainability plans (waste, water, transportation, and more) that will guide our direction for the next decade:
- Piloting new zero waste efforts to reach zero waste by 2020.
- Enhancing energy, green building, and climate initiatives to support carbon neutrality by 2025.
- Powering-up community engagement and behavior change.
UC Berkeley Leadership and Engagement in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Globalization, and the Environment
This office initiative aims to increase UC Berkeley's global citizen leadership through participation as a member of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU). The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) is a network of eleven research-intensive universities from nine countries who share a similar global vision and commitment to educating future world leaders. To learn more about IARU, click here.
The office's current engagement with IARU:
- IARU Sustainability Initiative: projects include the IARU Green Guide and new IARU E-Publication for UN SDGs
View and download the IARU's new green guide for universities, which addresses key areas of sustainability at universities, ranging from laboratory design to managerial and organizational aspects.
- IARU Student Platform: an online research community created by UC Berkeley students to bridge local and global connections between IARU undergraduates
Carbon Neutrality Initiative
The UC President’s Bonnie Reiss Carbon Neutrality Student Fellowship Program funds student-generated projects working towards the UC goal of zero-net greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. All 10 UC campuses plus the UC Office of the President, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are participating in the program.
The program began in spring 2015(link is external) and is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. For more information, including how to apply for funding, please see the UC Office of the President's website(link is external).
More Solar Powering Cal
The Office of Sustainability is launching another round of Solar PV installations on campus. We are working to add 2.5 MW more on site. Want to help? Think about donating to a supporting fund.
Assessing our performance with STARS
STARS takes a sustainability snapshot of colleges and universities around the world based on more than 90 diverse metrics such as renewable energy use, academic curriculum and campus involvement in environmental policymaking. For the first time, UC Berkeley in 2018 completed the self-reported STARS tool, or the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, and scored a Gold rating.
Office Engagements
The Office of Sustainability promotes sustainable methods of transportation to get campus to our carbon neutrality goals.
The Office of Sustainability champions sustainable agriculture and sustainable campus dining options.
Working towards zero waste creates important projects at the Office of Sustainability.