Latest news: UC Davis staff has pushed the 12/31/22 deadline for preparing the university’s fossil-free pathway plan, and now expects to finish the document by the end of February. While FF UCD regrets that staff did not finalize this plan in 2022 and that the campus has resisted deadlines for eliminating fossil fuel use, we feel that the overall process is heading in the right direction, albeit slowly. At the UC level, in late fall President Drake and the UC Office of the President’s Global Climate Leadership Council convened a Pathways toward a Fossil Free UC Task Force to develop recommendations on steps to remove fossil fuels from campuses. This is another step forward, moving away from the 2013 Carbon Neutrality Initiative’s emphasis on buying carbon offsets as a way to claim to be “carbon neutral.” Keeping up pressure on both UCD and UC overall will be essential.

The actions we choose or choose not to take in the next 10 years will determine the fate of the planet for the next thousand.

David Attenborough, 10/17/21

I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is.

Greta Thunberg, 1/24/19

The University of California at Davis is a global sustainability leader in many ways. It is a leading global university on environmental topics, has the largest photovoltaic array of any U.S. school, is building a new residential district which generates 80% of its own energy, and is in the most bike-friendly city in America.

However, UCD continues to emit more than 150,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions each year. Both Davis and Sacramento campuses burn large amounts of natural gas, much of it derived from fracked sources, for heating and cooling. Despite a 2010 Climate Action plan and steps to buy greener electricity from off-campus, on-campus GHG emissions have remained steady for a decade.

We envision our university being a global climate leader by ending its use of fossil fuels. But this will take leadership from top UCD administrators. Please sign the Fossil-Free UCD petition available through this website, write or email campus officials, and spread the word among everyone you know.

Our Asks:        

1. Commit to ending fossil fuel use on UCD campuses by 2030
2. By the end of 2022 develop an electrification plan for the two campuses, establish a timeline for actions, and adopt specific policies to implement the transition