Providing vision, direction and support for sustainability in all its dimensions.

We're proud to promote a variety of sustainability efforts, from campus infrastructure and operations, to programs that enhance understanding and motivate action toward a more environmentally and socially sustainable campus. 

Our role is to: 

• Demonstrate leadership. We provide vision, direction and support for sustainability in all its dimensions, which range from the physical environment to fair, sustainable business practices. And, we lead campus sustainability planning efforts, including the UC Davis Climate Action Plan. 
• Foster connections. We coordinate across campus departments, build relationships and institutional capacity for sustainability with external partners, and help link research efforts to campus operations. 
• Create a culture of sustainability. We conduct assessments of campus progress toward sustainability goals, and engage and inspire collective and individual actions to accelerate progress toward a sustainable campus and a sustainable world. 

How we think

It’s a system 

As a campus, we approach sustainability as a holistic, systems-thinking endeavor. We are guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and recognize that we cannot have a healthy planet without healthy and equitably served people, and we cannot have equity and human health without a healthy planet. Our immediate focus is on our campus, yet our vision and the impact of our programs extend to the global community. 

It’s collaborative 

UC Davis Sustainability represents and supports the larger university community who work together to achieve sustainability goals, advance our scientific understanding of sustainability challenges, and educate for a sustainable future. Together, we continually refine efforts to set and achieve increasingly ambitious objectives. We advocate for every member of the campus community to take sustainability personally and become an active steward of the many aspects of sustainability they can directly influence. 

It’s measurable 

The University of California and UC Davis set well-defined goals to measure progress. UC Davis Sustainability is responsible for performance assessment and reporting to campus and university leadership as well as external governing agencies. UC Davis participates in several voluntary assessment and ratings programs and we handle that, too.

Our success indicators

• Sustainability is making a difference on campus and externally 
• • Our campus is a visible example 
  • Others want to learn from what we are doing 
  • Others want to join with us for shared outcomes 
  • Our campus’ sustainability performance is continuously improving 
• Sustainability is enhancing the academic mission and enterprise
• • Successful and innovative collaborations happen in teaching, research, and co-curricular programming 
  • The campus experience for all
  • Students is enriched by sustainability  students are literate in sustainability and climate change in order to be effective and active citizens and leaders 
• Sustainability is adding strategic benefits to the campus 
• • Public engagement at all scales, from local to international 
  • Positive and supportive donor and alumni relations 
  • Resiliency to financial and climate change disruptions 
  • Competitive advantage in attracting the best students, faculty and staff