Fossil-free UC San Diego. That’s what some university students called for on April 19 at a “Walkout For Climate” rally held at Geisel Library on campus, during which protesters called on Chancellor Pradeep Khosla to commit UC San Diego to campus electrification by 2030.

The climate rally was supported by UC San Diego students who walked out of classes to join the protest, along with allies from the Sunrise Movement San Diego, San Diego 350, Sierra Club’s San Diego Chapter, the United Auto Workers Locals, The California Nurses Association, and several others.

The UC San Diego main campus burns fossil gas for electricity generation and heating/cooling, thereby emitting more than 170,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

“UC San Diego must stop burning fossil gas and lead the transition to renewable energy,” said the UC Green New Deal, a UC San Diego climate movement pushing to run the campus on renewable-generated electricity, in a statement before the April 19 climate rally. “This will encourage the 10-campus UC system to do the same: help California’s renewable energy transition, and accelerate emissions reduction in other states and the nation. Our walkout comes at a critical time with a 10-campus task force and our faculty allies that, all together, may soon trigger a decisive commitment to electrification from the UC San Diego Administration.”

”UC San Diego is currently engaged with the system-wide Fossil Free Pathways Task Force to evaluate what would be required to achieve electrification of main campus energy systems, as well as explore other potential technologies that could result in a 90 percent or greater reduction in scope 1 emissions from fossil gas use,” said Leslie Sepuka, associate director, university communications.

“UC San Diego is the size of a small- to mid-sized city, with complex energy needs for research labs and hospitals. Although labs and hospitals require high levels of energy for activities such as the sterilization of equipment, the university works to achieve the appropriate level of energy with the highest level of efficiency. In addition to electrification, the university will continue to explore potential technologies, including hydrogen, concentrated solar thermal, and others that could align with both our climate goals and the demands of our campus,” Sepuka said.

Since its founding in 2019, the UC Green New Deal coalition’s efforts led to the creation of a Fossil Free Pathways Task Force in 2022. It is hoped the task force will guide the 10 UC campuses to make campus electrification plans that don’t require burning gas.

UC San Diego Professor Adam Aron, a Green New Deal member who participated in the climate rally, talked about its objectives. “We’ve got a climate crisis, and if we don’t dramatically cut our (carbon) emissions by more than 50% in the next 10 years or less – we could be changing our world (for the worse) in a matter of decades,” he emphasized adding, “It is very urgent to leave fossil fuel in the ground.”

Arguing UC San Diego’s co-generation plant emits nearly 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, Aron said, “We want the campus to stop burning fossil gas and plug itself more into solar and renewable electricity. That’s what we’ve been pushing for.”

Aron is a climate activist and professor of psychology at UC San Diego. His research and teaching focus on the social science of collective action on the climate crisis. He is the author of a book titled “The Climate Crisis.”

The climate activist said UC San Diego hasn’t gone far enough in greening the university’s power usage. “Up until now, UC San Diego’s policy has been to keep burning fossil fuels and pretend that it can make good buying carbon offsets. That’s nonsense. Our efforts have been to push for UC’s 10 campuses to electrify, and we’ve made headway in that.”

A carbon offset refers to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions – or an increase in carbon storage through land restoration or the planting of trees, etc. – that is used to compensate for emissions that occur elsewhere.

“Our walkout, our rally, was to get Chancellor Khosla to commit to electrification,” concluded Aron. “We need the chance to adopt a goal, which is to declare that we will electrify by 2030. Just making plans is not enough. We have to have a commitment from our leaders to actually move forward with that.”