University of California, Santa Barbara
PAE-5: Climate Action Plan

Strategies have been developed and implemented to reduce our current levels of green house gas emissions. We have already reduced our GHG emissions levels to 2000 levels (our goal for this was 2014). Currently, our emissions have been measured at 89,820 MTCO2e (2010), and 2000 levels were estimated at 97,715 MTCO2e. Moreover, we are promoting our existing courses centered on climate change and have identified funding sources to help encourage additional development of courses on our climate change research.

UCSB hopes to reduce carbon emissions from current levels to those of the year 1990 by 2020 and achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050. We have achieved our short term goals of reducing emissions to levels in 2000 and have a strategy in place so we can achieve our 2020 goals through various efficiency projects. Emissions reduction measures, including deployment of new technologies and the procurement of carbon offsets, will be necessary to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. On page 14, the Climate Action Plan reads, “The overall mitigation strategy for the campus is to avoid emissions where possible through improved planning and changing the way things are done; to reduce emissions through improved efficiency of what will continue to be done; and to replace high-carbon energy sources with lower carbon sources.” New construction projects, retrofitting of existing sources, changes in policy and practices, and education and outreach will be our primary strategies toward reaching our goals of carbon neutrality by the year 2050.