The UC Davis Fossil-Fuel Free Pathway Plan, or Plan, outlines a pathway for the UC Davis enterprise to eliminate 95 percent of 2019 levels of fossil-fuel use from university operations by 2040. University operations are comprised of fossil-fuel combusted and used onsite, which generates Scope 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and purchased utilities, which generates Scope 2 GHG emissions. The baseline year 2019 is the most recent year representative of full university operations considering COVID-19 pandemic impacts. In January 2022, Chancellor Gary May charged the Campus Advisory Committee on Sustainability to investigate pathways to fossil-fuel independence and to document their findings and recommendations. The FFFPP is the first of its kind undertaken by a University of California campus and one of the earliest comprehensive plans in the U.S. higher education sector. With a focus on Scopes 1 and 2, the FFFPP addresses district-energy generation in central plants, and distribution systems, stand-alone buildings, our fleet and small equipment owed by the university. Written in chapters, each provides proposed solutions and recommendations tailored to specific areas.” (p. 5)

Download a PDF of the draft plan here:

https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/d3m1dzp4f1sfkfjdrddjhdj7wg5frzc0

Plan Summary

“The UC Davis Fossil-Fuel Free Pathway Plan, or FFFPP, outlines an actionable pathway for the UC Davis enterprise to eliminate 95 percent of 2019 levels of fossil-fuel use from university operations by 2040. University operations are comprised of fossil-fuel combusted and used onsite, which generates Scope 1 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and purchased utilities, which generates Scope 2 GHG emissions. The baseline year 2019 is the most recent year representative of full university operations considering COVID-19 pandemic impacts. In 2019, UC Davis used 2,356,865 MMBtu of fossil fuels onsite in district energy generation in central plants, standalone buildings, fleet and small equipment, and purchased electricity generated from 56,246 MMBtu of fossil fuels, for a total of 2,413,111 MMBtu of fossil-fuel use in 2019. The challenge set forth is to reduce that amount by 95 percent, or down to no more than 120,656 MMBtu of fossil-fuel use.” ( p. 6)

Call to Action

“The climate emergency is the defining challenge of our generation, with cross-cutting impacts that will require significant mitigation and adaptation on the part of every aspect of society, including the educational sector. Human caused climate change is considered a “threat
multiplier” in that it exacerbates many of the significant threats facing society today including: global peace and security, terrorism, gender and racial equity, food and water shortages, public health and the spread of disease. A recent survey among 10,000 youth, divided equally between countries from the global North and South indicated that 86% of all youth polled expressed at least moderate concern about climate change, with 45% of the survey indicating that climate change affected their daily functioning. A fundamental tenet of the UC Davis mission (as outlined in our strategic plan, To Boldly Go) is to “provide an educational experience that prepares our students to address the needs and challenges of a changing world.” We are a major engine of upward mobility for the students from California and beyond who turn to us for a world-class
education). Similarly, the academic hospital system of the University of California is the premier healthcare organization for the state and a major steward of the health and well-being of the communities we serve. We cannot, in good conscience, continue to operate our campuses in a way that emits large quantities of greenhouse gasses that contribute to the climate emergency and jeopardizes the future of the students we teach and the health of the patients we cure. There is a stark cognitive dissonance between the institutional responsibilities of tending to the health of our community and teaching its future generation of leaders while simultaneously aggravating the climate emergency.” (p. 16)

Submit comments at:
https://sustainability.ucdavis.edu/form/uc-davis-fuel-free-pathway-plan

The public comment period for this draft is open from June 26 through October, 27 2023.