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Draft Policy on UC Carbon Offset Credits - Town Hall this Thursday, Dec 3 | Input Period ends Dec 7
The UC is in the midst of proposing an offsets section to incorporate into the Climate Protection section of the University of California Policy on Sustainable Practices.

You are invited to attend a Town Hall on Thursday, December 3, from 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Please RSVP via this form and you will be sent the Zoom link.

Feedback must be received via survey by December 7, 2020. How to provide feedback is shared below.

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.

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.

To provide your feedback, we ask that you please follow these steps:

First review the two page Briefing on the Proposed UC Offset Policy: https://ucdavis.box.com/v/offsetsbrief
Then read the Draft Policy on Voluntary Carbon Offsets: https://ucdavis.box.com/v/offsetspolicy
Please submit feedback using the UC Davis survey for response collection: https://ucdavis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6fW2T7nN4lwl6Yt
All feedback should keep in mind the UC Davis Principles of Community. (https://diversity.ucdavis.edu/principles-community)
All feedback must be submitted through the survey.
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. The office hour times and 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

Did you know?

"Climate Emergency" was Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year in 2019, defined as "a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it." Learn more about climate science, impacts, and solutions at climatechange.ucdavis.edu.

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