University of California, Santa Barbara
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

The Campus Community and Government Relations staffs develop and maintain relationships with local elected officials, their staff, and departments to advocate for the interests of their campus, including sustainability. Many host Annual Advocacy Days in their community and work to strengthen university engagement on sustainability issues through community participation and support of community organizations.

State Legislative Advocacy • UC State Government Relations (SGR) serves as the University’s primary representative to state elected officials and agencies, providing advocacy on legislation and public policies that provide for, extend, and enhance the University’s authority to conduct its business operations in a manner that is efficient and sustainable as well as advocating against measures that would limit this authority. For example: -- UC sponsored legislation in 2015 (AB 1150, Levine) that allowed the University to expand its successful statewide institutional partnership with Investor Owned Utilities, creating an integrated energy efficiency program across all UC facilities and reducing the University’s emission of greenhouse gases. AB 1150 was signed by Governor Brown and chaptered on October 8, 2015. -- The UC System actively supported AB 1953 (Skinner, 2014), which would have created a Higher Education Energy Efficiency Fund in the State Treasury and allow the California Energy Commission to make grants to the University of California and California State University for building retrofits to reduce energy demand. -- The UC System continues to pursue of state cap-and-trade revenue and other sources of funding for campus energy-efficiency projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower future energy costs. Many of the proposed projects would also serve as highly visible demonstrations for state-of-the-art energy conservation technologies. UC supports the proposed $25 million allocation of cap-and-trade funds for the University included in the 2016-17 budget and requested additional funding to support energy efficiency and renewable energy projects beyond the scope of the current proposal that would provide even greater environmental and economic benefits. UC Faculty and Student Advocacy • SGR also assists in preparing UC faculty experts invited to testify at legislative hearings and coordinates advocacy events in Sacramento. Grad Research Advocacy Day, for example, highlights how UC graduate student research contributes to advancements in a number of important sectors, including energy and sustainability. UC has also held drought summits in Sacramento and Washington, DC, that featured speakers from across the UC system along with experts from other agencies, organizations, and universities. Panelists discussed the challenges, opportunities, and potential impacts of the drought on the economy and policy. Events like these seek to help inform policymakers about key sustainability issues, highlight the value of UC, and build the support needed to continue to advance the University’s efforts.

UC Federal Government Relations is the University’s liaison to the federal government, working with Congress, the administration, federal agencies and national organizations to advocate for the University and its missions in education, research and public service. Examples include: -- Convening UC faculty and staff to host Congressional briefings, including “UC Research: Pioneering the Clean Energy Future” which featured UC experts discussing how the University leverages its technical expertise and clean energy research capacity to improve campus operational performance and expand entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. Congressional briefings that highlight the impact of the University’s sustainability efforts on campus operations and showcase UC as a model for other institutions are a part of the University’s effort to demonstrate the value of investing in UC and advocate for the federal funding that supports the University’s energy and sustainability goals. -- Participating in DC lobby days, including the annual Coalition for National Science Funding Day on Capitol Hill. Representatives from UC campuses attend meetings with members of Congress and their staff and contribute to the National Science Foundation (NSF) project exhibit. This year, an all-UC briefing paper including descriptions of NSF-sponsored UC projects focused on food security, sustainable environmental practices, carbon mitigation or climate solutions was developed and shared with Congressional offices. As part of the University’s initiative to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025, UC convened a summit where it unveiled “Bending the Curve,” a report on scalable climate solutions that drew from the work of 50 UC faculty members across multiple disciplines. The summit brought together climate experts from inside and outside the University and fostered partnerships that will inform policy and research priorities around climate change and carbon neutrality. The report – which has been widely shared with state, national, and international leaders – includes a set of recommended actions that researchers, policymakers, activists, and institutions like the University of California can immediately implement to address climate change, make significant strides toward carbon neutrality, and advance sustainability. The University has been recognized by the White House for its leadership in and advocacy of sustainable investing. UC is part of the White House’s Clean Energy Investment Initiative and signed the White House American Campuses Act on Climate Pledge, joining more than 200 U.S. colleges and universities in a unified commitment to accelerate their transition to low-carbon energy while promoting sustainable practices across their campuses.

UC Participation at the 2015 UN Climate Conference (COP-21) in Paris • UC President Janet Napolitano, along with more than 30 UC faculty members and their students, attended COP-21 in Paris to advocate for strong international action to address climate change and share the progress that the University and State of California have made to curb climate pollution. UC faculty was active in the negotiations, helping to translate the latest research into scalable action. UC’s system-wide “Bending the Curve” report was presented as a practical roadmap for the world to follow. Breakthrough Energy Coalition/Sustainable Investing • UC is a founding member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition (BEC), a group of 28 investors from 10 countries led by Bill Gates that is committed to investing in technology that can help solve energy and climate challenges. The goals of the BEC are consistent with the sustainable investment framework that the UC Office of the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) integrated into the University’s investment philosophy as well as UC’s previous commitment to invest $1 billion of the funds managed by the Office of the CIO into climate solutions. UC was the only institution and only university invited to be a founding member the BEC but will serve in a leadership role with other institutions to explore how they can productively participate. • UC was also the first American public university to sign the Montreal Carbon Pledge sponsored by the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment. By signing, UC joined an international network of institutional investors committed to including environmental, social and governance factors in their investment decision making. UC’s MOU with Mexico • UC has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Mexican Secretariat of Energy (SENER) to promote increased collaboration between the University and Mexico on energy and sustainability efforts, including research; visits from scholars, scientists and administrators; and the development of graduate programs in the field of renewable energy. The goal is for Mexico and California work together in areas that are needed to secure a more sustainable future and a long-lasting regional economic development.

Additional links: The website for SGR is: http://www.ucop.edu/state-governmental-relations/index.html The website for FGR is: http://www.ucop.edu/federal-governmental-relations/index.html