| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.07 |
| Liaison | John Alejandro |
| Submission Date | Oct. 22, 2024 |
University of San Diego
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.67 / 2.00 |
Milena
LaBarbiera Sustainability Coordinator Office of Sustainability |
Local advocacy
A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the municipal/local level:
USD is a founding member and sponsor of the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, a network for public agencies that serve the San Diego region. Members share expertise, leverage resources, and advance comprehensive solutions to facilitate climate change mitigation and resiliency planning. By partnering with academia, non-profit organizations, and business and community leaders, the Collaborative also works to raise the profile of regional leadership.
The Collaborative engages in the following: -Supports and promotes comprehensive solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for local climate change impacts. -Communicates about the leadership of the Climate Collaborative and the San Diego region to local, state, and national leaders, peers, and funding institutions. -Builds capacity within San Diego area public agencies and other local organizations through networking, training and partnerships with academic institutions, businesses, and non-profits.
Regional advocacy
A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the state/provincial/regional level:
The USD Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC) is a non-profit research center in the School of Law that studies energy policy issues affecting California and the San Diego region. EPIC advises local, regional, and state government entities on climate-related policy and helps cities and regions develop climate action plans, including greenhouse gas inventories, emission reduction measures and policies, cost-benefit analysis and ordinance development. In December 2021, EPIC supported the City of Encinitas staff to develop a Green Building Ordinance, including provisions related to residential and nonresidential energy efficiency in new buildings, solar photovoltaics on new nonresidential buildings, and the San Diego region's all-electric requirement for new buildings. For this project, EPIC developed ordinance language, diagrams to illustrate how the ordinances applied, and fact sheets. In January 2022, the County of San Diego released the final Regional Decarbonization Framework Technical Report, a technical and policy analysis of deep decarbonization in the San Diego region. EPIC authored Chapter 8, Local Policy Opportunity, which assesses current commitments in CAPs to determine if additional activity would be needed to put the region on a trajectory to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals and identifies local policy opportunities for local jurisdictions to achieve such goals. Additionally, EPIC has supported the development of numerous city Climate Action Plans in the San Diego region, including the City of Vista's 2021 Climate Action Plan (CAP) Update. As part of this CAP update, EPIC supported the City of Vista to complete a greenhouse gas emissions inventory, evaluate current greenhouse gas reduction measures, and develop new greenhouse gas reduction measures.
National advocacy
A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the national level:
Each year, EPIC hosts the Lesley K. McAllister Symposium focusing on climate and energy law. Legal and policy experts from across the country attend the event, including practicing attorneys, policymakers, climate practitioners, and academic experts. The November 2024 Symposium focused on how to make energy affordable and accessible as we decarbonize the electric supply and electrify transportation and buildings in the United States. The Symposium addressed the drivers of high electricity costs, customer impacts, and potential solutions.
International advocacy
A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability at the international level:
Dr. Michel Boudrias (Associate Professor, Environmental and Ocean Sciences) currently serves as one of the United States representatives to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Greening the Curriculum Committee. This committee works on strategic planning for curricular changes as they connect to COP summits. The committee holds quarterly meetings to exchange ideas for curriculum and sustainability planning that can be used across the globe.
Optional Fields
Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainability advocacy efforts is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.