The University of California Green New Deal Coalition is a democratically organized coalition of UC organizations and individuals, including students, trainees, staff, unions, faculty, retirees, alumni, and local community members that campaigns for concrete and integrated actions which the University of California (UC) must take to help prevent the worst effects of the climate crisis and to promote environmental justice.
As a leader in climate science, the UC has a responsibility to model the types of climate policy that the world should be adopting. While recognizing the effects climate change will have on our own campuses, we stand in solidarity with frontline communities bearing the brunt of climate change. We call on the UC to deploy its investment, procurement, educational, labor, and research power to help drive a just transition to a more equitable, accountable, and carbon-free future.
History and Timeline: A Roadmap For Success
- March 2020: Inception of the UC GND Coalition
- UC GND Policy Platform drafting timeline
- May 2020: UC GND Coalition began monthly meetings.
- Aug. 2020: First meeting of the UC GND Policy Working Group (WG).
- Nov. 6, 2020: UC GND Policy WG voted to approve each section of the first draft (V.1) of the UC GND Policy Platform.
- Nov. 6, 2020 — Feb. 1, 2021: Open feedback period for community comments on V.1.
- Nov. 2020 – Oct. 13, 2021: Revisions of the UC GND Platform included incorporating community input from UC GNDC town halls, comments on the platform, emails, outreach, and one-on-one Zoom conversations into a new iteration of the platform (V.2).
- Spring 2021 – Oct. 13, 2021: Following revision, discussions, and more revisions took place (V.3 and V.4), until the UC GND Policy WG voted to finally approve each section of the document one at a time. The final sections were approved by the Policy WG on Oct. 13, 2021.
- Oct. 19, 2021: Internal approval of UC GND policy platform by whole Coalition (V.4)
- Dec. 15, 2021: Petition launch!
- Dec. 15, 2021 — Apr. 22, 2022: Gather support for policy platform through petition signatures, endorsements, and by growing our membership
- Tactics: class wraps (for petition and for Earth Day rally); one-on-one meetings with sympathetic student organizations, outside organizations, and student government bodies; in-person tabling with promotional material; events like teach-ins, rallies, Fridays For Future visibility, visual propaganda (chalking, drawing in sand, posters, social media, etc.); speak to the regents (Jan. 18-20th); labor + climate collaboration; student & established media coverage of petition, actions, milestones/victories, etc.; streamlined messaging
- Petition information and an endorsements page were approved to add to the final version (V.4) of the UC GND Policy Platform, and will be updated regularly as more signature comments and endorsements roll in.
- Tactics: class wraps (for petition and for Earth Day rally); one-on-one meetings with sympathetic student organizations, outside organizations, and student government bodies; in-person tabling with promotional material; events like teach-ins, rallies, Fridays For Future visibility, visual propaganda (chalking, drawing in sand, posters, social media, etc.); speak to the regents (Jan. 18-20th); labor + climate collaboration; student & established media coverage of petition, actions, milestones/victories, etc.; streamlined messaging
- Apr. 22, 2022: Coordinated cross-campus Earth Day ‘22 rallies (at all 10 campuses) highlighting the need for a UC GND.
- May, 2022: Voter turnout drive for the Senate Faculty memorial calling for investments to significantly reduce on-campus fossil fuel combustion.
- June, 2022: Senate Faculty memorial passed; 80% voted yes!
- July 2022: Our petition calling for the UC to enact our UC Green New Deal delivered to 10 campus Chancellors and Sustainability Officers, the UC Board of Regents, and President Drake.
- Oct, 2022: In response to our pressure, the UC allocated $10 million for campuses to develop electrification plans to investigate how to phase out on-campus fossil fuel combustion.
- Nov 2022: In response to numerous calls for the UC to focus on on-campus emission reductions, rather than using carbon offsets, the UC establishes a “Pathways to a Fossil Free UC” taskforce.
- March 2023: The UC is soliciting feedback on its “Climate Protection” section of the UC Systemwide Sustainable Practices Policy. We are pushing for accelerated and more ambitious goals.
Vision
- Get the UC to commit to enacting major components of our UC GND (and formulating those policies into a UC Climate Action Plan) necessary to reach critical targets in line with the 1.5°C IPCC pathway projection. For the UC, this means raw emissions need to decline by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching carbon zero by 2050.
- Each campus (including its satellite institutions), in partnership with the campus and local community, will need to draft its own Climate Action Plan (in line with the UC-wide GND-influenced Climate Action Plan), tailored to the specific needs of that campus to reach the aforementioned 2030 and 2050 targets above.
- UC GNDC representation during the policy-drafting process will be critical to ensure the UC is collaborating in good faith with us to ensure the major measures of the UC GND Policy Platform make it into the UC’s Climate Action Plan.
- Each campus (including its satellite institutions), in partnership with the campus and local community, will need to draft its own Climate Action Plan (in line with the UC-wide GND-influenced Climate Action Plan), tailored to the specific needs of that campus to reach the aforementioned 2030 and 2050 targets above.
- After the UC releases the language of their Climate Action Plan, it will enter a review process where the UC’s proposed Climate Action Plan will be analyzed and critiqued in a public hearing and comment period to make sure it is: 1) bold enough to meet the IPCC’s 1.5°C emissions targets, 2) adequately addresses environmental justice concerns and meets the needs of vulnerable populations and affected communities to ensure equity, and 3) provides a just transition to workers in the fossil fuel industry.
- UCOP, UC Regents, and Chancellors approve their Climate Action Plans and set them into motion with the UC GND Coalition represented at every level in the UC’s implementation efforts to make sure that the UC actually sticks to its commitments for once.
- Periodic yearly reviews will track emissions progress made in key areas outlined in the UC and individual campus-level Climate Action Plans to course-correct if planned objectives are off track.