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UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative

The UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative grows out of a commitment by President Napolitano and the 10 UC campus chancellors to work collectively to intensify and expand the efforts of the world’s premier public research university to emit net zero greenhouse gases from its buildings and vehicle fleet by 2025.  UC Merced is in pursuit of this goal by 2020.

To ensure that students are engaged in this critical effort, the UC President’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative Student Fellowship Program was established. The Fellowship Program provides each campus with $12,000 to fund three student awards of $4,000 each. Campuses may provide these awards to undergraduate or graduate students to fund research fellowships or traditional internships. The program is funded out of the President’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative Fund.

Systemwide activities for the program begin with an orientation in October and conclude with a symposium and poster presentation held in conjunction with the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference held during the summer. Participation in this conference allows students to build communication and relationships between the different campuses and provides essential networking, skills sharing, training and collective visioning opportunities.

We are excited about this opportunity to recognize and support student efforts connected to the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative.