UC Davis is hosting a virtual Town Hall on December 3, 2020 from 6:15-7:15 PM to help educate our community on the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative (CNI), share UC Davis' carbon neutrality plans, and hear Dr. Barbara Haya, the PI on the UC Carbon Offsets Project, with a goal of eliciting feedback on the Proposed UC Offset Procurement Policy. If you are unable to attend the Town Hall you can still submit feedback on the policy through December 7, 2020. See below for how to do that. In the form that follows, you can RSVP to receive a link to the Town Hall (Zoom meeting). The Town Hall will be recorded, so please RSVP below if you are not sure whether you can attend, and we will follow up with a link to the recording.

BACKGROUND:
The University of California plans to reach carbon neutrality, defined as net zero greenhouse gas emissions, for business operations by 2025, and for commuting and business air travel by 2050 or sooner. The UC is in the midst of proposing a carbon offsets policy to incorporate into the Climate Protection section of the University of California Policy on Sustainable Practices. Establishing UC-specific standards for offsets will help ensure that our offset investments result in emission reductions that meet our climate goals, reflect our commitments to environmental and social justice, and are compliant with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). A critical goal of the offset policy is to define criteria and processes that ensure the quality of UC’s voluntary offset investments.

UC Davis has a climate action plan that currently maps a pathway to neutrality with some use of carbon offsets to meet the 2025 goal. UC Davis plans infrastructure transition (such as the Big Shift project that is currently under construction), energy efficiency projects, additional investment in renewable energy beyond the already extensive investments on campus (like the 16.3 megawatt solar power plant on campus) and off-site, electrification of our Unitrans bus fleet, continued investment in green buildings (like our LEED Platinum and Gold buildings), and energy conservation programs. Some use of offsets is anticipated to manage emissions associated with the transition to decarbonized infrastructure, some fossil fuel use in stand-alone or off-site facilities, fugitive emissions sources such as research gases, and leased space facilities that are not decarbonized. Offsets may also need to be used for commuting and business air travel emissions. Other UC campuses also anticipate using offsets to address similar issues.

The draft voluntary offsets policy comes out of work performed over the last two years under a UC Global Climate Leadership Council-funded project: UC’s Offset Strategy Development. This work involved (1) research on the quality of offsets available on the voluntary offset market, resulting in practical guidance on how UC can ensure offset purchases represent real additional emissions reductions, and (2) piloting our own offset projects originating from UC research and operations (UC Initiated Offsets). Several UC Davis faculty and student researchers were funded with seed grants for UC Initiated Offsets projects during the 2019 Request for Ideas.

FEEDBACK PROCESS:
To provide your feedback, please follow these steps:
1. First review the two page Briefing on the Proposed UC Offset Policy: https://ucdavis.box.com/v/offsetsbrief
2. Then read the Draft Policy on Voluntary Carbon Offsets: https://ucdavis.box.com/v/offsetspolicy
3. Please submit feedback using the UC Davis survey for response collection:
     https://ucdavis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6fW2T7nN4lwl6Yt
4. All feedback should keep in mind the UC Davis Principles of Community.
     (https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/principles-community)
5. Feedback must be submitted through the survey.
6. If you have questions or points of discussion before you submit feedback through the survey, you are invited to attend online “office hours” with Camille Kirk, Director of Sustainability, on Tuesday, December 1, 4:00-5:00 PM. The office hour Zoom link are on this Google Sheet: https://tinyurl.com/OSofficehours.

Additional background you may find useful:
> UC Policy on Sustainable Practices link: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3100155/SustainablePractices
> UC Offsets Overview Page: https://www.ucop.edu/energy-services/carbon-offsets/index.html

Please feel free to forward this on to your network of UC Davis colleagues. Thank you in advance for your attention and help in providing feedback on this policy.