UC Santa Barbara Sustainability hosted its Climate Action Plan forum at the Student Resource Building Multipurpose Room on Nov. 6. Introducing the 2025 draft of the Climate Action Plan, the department held the student forum to garner feedback on several proposed sustainability initiatives before the plan’s final presentation to the University of California Office of the President in June 2026.

Students had an opportunity to sit with Persad and her team after the presentation to ask questions and give input on a number of topics prepared by Muñoz. Dalia Puchalt / Daily Nexus

Following an introduction from third-year political science and history of public policy and law double major and Climate Action Fellows Estrella Alcaraz Muñoz, Campus Sustainability Manager Jewel Persad presented this year’s Climate Action Plan (C.A.P.) to the 15 students present. 

Director of Student Sustainability Initiatives Katie Maynard and former Climate Action Fellow and UCSB graduate Mariah Hudnut were in attendance, along with Campus Emergency Manager Jim Caesar and Mission Continuity Specialist Michael Brindle. Students had an opportunity to sit with Persad and her team after the presentation to ask questions and give input on a number of topics prepared by Muñoz.

In 2023, the University of California (UC) system issued the adapted UC Sustainable Practices policy, requiring that each of its universities and facilities effectively reduce carbon emissions by 90% by 2045 and negate any residual emissions by carbon removal. The 2025 C.A.P. tackles the University’s total emissions across three scopes: natural gas and combustion (Scope 1), purchased electricity (Scope 2) and university-funded indirect emissions (Scope 3). If funded, the plan would effectively reduce carbon emissions by roughly 90% before 2045, using 2019 as a baseline. 

Scope 1 primarily targets stationary combustion, along with mobile combustion from the University’s vehicle fleet and fugitive emissions or refrigerants. Stationary combustion, which refers to the combustion of natural gas in boilers that provide heating and hot water, currently accounts for 50.8% of UCSB’s current emissions. To combat this issue, the UCSB Decarbonization Project Committee proposed the construction of a new central utility plant on campus in 2024, which would employ energy-efficient technology such as heat pumps and thermal energy storage tanks. Funding and implementation of this project will be phased through 2045.

According to Persad, UCSB is the only UC location where building a new energy plant would be more cost-effective than solely maintaining existing infrastructure — the estimated cost of the new centralized utility plant would be $2.25 billion, versus $3.04 billion for a “business-as-usual” scenario.

Scope 2 pertains to the University’s purchased electricity, which is no longer relevant because of the adoption of the UC Clean Power Program in July 2020. Prior to the program’s implementation, purchased electricity was the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, which have since dropped by 16,500 million metric tons CO2e. Currently, approximately 99% of purchased electricity is carbon-free and primarily sourced from solar energy. 

Scope 3 predominantly addresses transportation by investigating ways to reduce emissions from commuter and business travel, which together account for 41.7% of UCSB’s total emissions. 

The C.A.P. outlines major changes to commuter transport, proposing a range of alternatives to the current system. One recommendation is the formation of a committee tasked with reforming the parking fee structure to disincentivize single-occupancy vehicle use. Upcoming on-campus housing projects such as San Benito student housing, Ocean Road faculty and staff housing and the East Campus infill effort will also reduce commuter emissions by default.

In addition to providing subsidies for public transport, it was also proposed that the University purchase seats on local buses to optimize routes and scheduling for UCSB commuters. This was a trouble spot, attracting a lot of student concern throughout the breakout session, according to Persad. 

“Purchasing bus seats would allow for greater input regarding routes and locations of the pick-up and drop-offs for the buses, but we would also require a much greater financial investment,” Persad said. 

Also calculated within Scope 3’s umbrella is municipal solid waste. Despite accounting for 2.7% of UCSB’s total emissions, this year’s C.A.P. is the first to identify and report waste as a source of emissions. This is due to an update included in the 2023 UC Sustainable Practices Policy.

The C.A.P. is presently accepting feedback through Dec. 5 by email to jewelpersad@ucsb.edu. 

“The plan is to collect all of the comments by the end of this quarter and to use the winter quarter to review the feedback and incorporate any suggestions,” Persad said. “In spring quarter, we would seek formal approval from our campus before submitting the plan to [the UC Office of the President].”

A version of this article appeared on p. 4 of the Nov. 13 print edition of the Daily Nexus.