As the most sustainable university in the world, Berkeley takes pride in its leadership in advancing meaningful responses to climate change. Partners upped their own sustainability games in FY23 by strategically investing in Berkeley green initiatives across the student experience.
Keeping It Clean
Through comprehensive analyses and expert recommendations for scalable growth, graduate students in Berkeley’s Cleantech to Market (C2M) program vet and strengthen innovative green startups. As part of its sponsorship of C2M, MetLife awarded $35,000 in prizes to graduate teams advising promising firms in magnetics, hydropower, and energy storage. Amid climate emergencies and a volatile energy transition, the importance of this work underlines Berkeley’s leadership in developing climate tech leaders.
Growing Green Giants
Berkeley undergrads also push for a more sustainable future. In FY23, three student groups received funding from Bank of the West to further their environmental work:
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DeTrash Berkeley led more than 200 volunteers through 23 events in the removal of 1800 pounds of litter from Berkeley’s streets.
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SEEDS will replant 7500 square feet of bare soil with 100 native plants, providing pollinator habitat and water efficiencies for northwest campus.
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Vertical Farming at Berkeley will raise awareness of efficient agriculture and expand its exploration of sustainable food production via a live campus demo of its equipment and produce this fall.
Talking Trash
Waste diversion is key to Berkeley’s sustainability goals. In FY23, UBPS connections facilitated significant initiatives to improve campus waste stream management. PepsiCo co-funded the procurement and promotion of new sorting bins in select campus dorms, investing $30,000 to advance the university’s push to zero waste. The pilot program was overwhelmingly successful, resulting in less contamination between sorting streams and the decision to extend the program to all student housing in the near future.
Waste loads and non-sorting are also an area of concern when students leave their dorms and apartments each spring. Chipman Relocation and Logistics again supported the student-led Cooperative Reuse program, which coordinates the collection and sorting of household items during students' annual move out. Chipman's complimentary hauling services helped Cooperative Reuse to collect 200,000 pounds of furniture and other goods for reuse, recycling, or disposal, thinning the overall waste stream and keeping Berkeley streets clean during students' summer exodus.