Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	77.43
Liaison	Elida Erickson
Submission Date	Feb. 28, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of California, Santa Cruz
OP-2: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Status	Score	Responsible Party
	4.10 / 8.00	Ellen Vaughan Water & Climate Action Manager Sustainability Office

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions

Gross GHG emissions

Gross Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from stationary combustion	28,462 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	21,966 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions from other sources	2,510 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported electricity	141 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	8,014 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Total	31,113 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	29,980 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Carbon sinks

Figures needed to determine net carbon sinks:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Third-party verified carbon offsets purchased	2,181 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Institution-catalyzed carbon offsets generated	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from on-site composting	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Carbon storage from non-additional sequestration	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	---
Carbon sold or transferred	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Net carbon sinks	2,181 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

If total performance year carbon sinks are greater than zero, provide:

A brief description of the carbon sinks, including vendor, project source, verification program and contract timeframes (as applicable):

CA-certified Golden Offset Credits

Adjusted net GHG emissions

Adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Adjusted net GHG emissions	28,932 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	29,980 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Performance and baseline periods

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Performance year	Baseline year
Start date	Jan. 1, 2019	Jan. 1, 2006
End date	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2006

A brief description of when and why the GHG emissions baseline was adopted:

2006 has been adopted for baseline Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions because it is the earliest year we have complete energy/ GHG data.

Part 1. Reduction in GHG emissions per person

Weighted campus users

Figures needed to determine “Weighted Campus Users”:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Number of students resident on-site	8,691	6,511
Number of employees resident on-site	203	169
Number of other individuals resident on-site	643	497
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	19,147	14,661
Full-time equivalent of employees	3,789	4,761
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted Campus Users	20,068.50	16,733.50

Metrics used in scoring for Part 1

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user:

	Performance year	Baseline year
Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user	1.44 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent	1.79 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Percentage reduction in adjusted net Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions per weighted campus user from baseline:

19.53

Part 2. GHG emissions per unit of floor area

Performance year floor area

Gross floor area of building space, performance year:

553,637.96 Gross square meters

Floor area of energy intensive building space, performance year:

	Floor area
Laboratory space	114,948.60 Square meters
Healthcare space	3,516.75 Square meters
Other energy intensive space	0 Square meters

EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:

790,568.67 Gross square meters

Metric used in scoring for Part 2

Adjusted net Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions per unit of EUI-adjusted floor area, performance year:

0.04 MtCO2e per square meter

A brief description of the institution’s GHG emissions reduction initiatives:

UCSC has implemented a coordinated strategy to reduce GHG emissions through energy efficiency, onsite renewables, clean energy procurement, offsets, and sustainable transportation improvements.

In the last three years, UCSC continued to implement energy efficiency projects. We have also implemented multiple lighting retrofits to LED campus wide, and multiple Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) retrofits reducing the campus energy usage for heating and airflow. Several major new construction projects have been designed and built utilizing the Savings By Design program, and all buildings were designed to LEED silver equivalent or better.

In 2017, we completed a multi-year project to evaluate a large scale, whole-campus Climate & Energy Strategy (CES). This resulted in a report and Scenario Analysis tool, which has been the guiding document for the campus to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. The scope of this project included energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as recommendations for new construction policies, emissions-related policy updates and procurement strategies.

We have also opted in to California's Cap and Trade program and committed to re-investing the cost avoidance into energy efficiency projects.

Additionally, UCSC is a founding member of the University of California Regents Energy Services Unit (UC ESU), which is working to procure electricity with a higher renewable content than what is available through our utility provider, PG&E. This includes UCSC's portion of the 80 MW photovoltaic (PV) project that UC ESU invested in that is located in Fresno, CA. This PV project has been operating since 2016 and provides the campus with renewable imported power.

Website URL where information about the institution's GHG emissions is available:

https://sustainability.ucsc.edu/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Reported emissions data to the California Air Resources Board is available at -
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/reporting/ghg-rep/reported-data/ghg-reports.htm
our campus data is embedded in the downloadable spreadsheet.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.