2022 VCA Annual Report - Office of Sustainability and Carbon Solutions

The Office of Sustainability & Carbon Solutions mission is to foster a culture of sustainability at Berkeley and to plan and integrate sustainability practices into campus operations and administration including providing methods, strategies, and extensive data to track and meet targets. The Office has a wide mandate including carbon emission reductions and zero waste along with renewable energy, resource saving and stewardship, greening the built environs, and inspiring resilient and inclusive institutional change. Their FY21 Operating Results & FY22 Budget can be found here.

The Office is under the leadership of Kira Stoll, Chief Sustainability & Carbon Solutions Officer.

FY21

During the 2020-2021 academic year, the Office published a comprehensive update to its UC Berkeley Sustainability Plan setting key stretch goals and strategies reaching beyond UC policy. The Plan addresses new intersectional topics including health and sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion in sustainability. Among a variety of engagement efforts, the office also created an online Sustainability Training and Certification program for UC Berkeley Staff. This certification program is composed of ten comprehensive modules and staff can enroll through the UC Learning Center to track their development.  The Office also launched new on-site solarinstallations to add 3.6MW of renewable power with batteries and a micro-grid for resiliency. 

This last year, Berkeley remained focused on marking progress and emerging from the pandemic with plans for a more sustainable and inclusive campus. Motivated to find solutions to drought and enable green building, the Office is partnered on the development of  a comprehensive water resilience plan identifying the opportunity for an on-site wastewater treatment plant to provide up to 30 percent of the campus water. The Office worked with a VCA team to launch the Clean Energy Campus initiative, kick-starting an intensive decarbonization plan to electrify the campus. 

In its 2021 STARS submission UC Berkeley earned a Platinum rating securing spot #7 out of 674 universities. STARS revealed a host of accomplishments including 50 percent of Berkeley’s courses having a sustainability focus and 95 percent of the landscape being organically managed. In its 18th year the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability honored six graduating seniors as changemakers in ending plastic pollution, plant-forward menus and notably for advancing environmental justice. Student leaders were recognized by the City’s Mayor with a proclamation for spurring 2,500 community members to take donated furniture home and diverting 200,000 pounds of waste during the Cal Move Out event.

FY21 Operating Results & FY22 Budget

For the Office of Sustainability and Carbon Solutions

FY22

In the 2021-22 Academic year, the Office of Sustainability plans to launch and significantly complete the Integrated Resource and Activation plan for the Clean Energy Campus initiative.

Additionally, they plan to launch the new Business Air Travel Carbon Mitigation Program at Berkeley. This program will assess a small fee to air travel creating a fund managed by the Office, to invest in carbon emission reduction projects on-campus.

 The Office will also be working on a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice focused climate change resiliency planning process with campus partners and relaunching the Staff Sustainability Community of Practice.

Image of Sustainability and Carbon Solutions team

Kira Stoll and the Sustainability and Carbon Solutions Team on the football field in October 2021 for the Cal vs. Boulder game.