USC celebrates Green Week at its campus to reinforce its sustainability framework

USC is committed to creating a sustainable environment across the campus. The University recently celebrated its second annual Green Week in October that includes a series of sustainability initiatives that engage students, faculty and staff in Assignment: Earth. Assignment: Earth is USC’s Sustainability Framework for a greener campus and planet. Departments across the university have been working together to achieve its goals, including climate neutrality by 2025, diverting over 90% of waste from landfills by 2028, reducing water use by 20%, creating 10 new sustainability courses per year, and doubling sustainability research by 2028.

The Week was kickstarted with a carousel of activities with the zero waste football game on October 1. Both students and general attendees witnessed extra pre-game festivities in and around the Coliseum, large commemorative banners strewn around campus celebrating the University’s sustainability achievements and goals and a halftime video address from University President Carol Folt. This was followed by a variety of on-campus clubs hosting events throughout the week, such as Regenerate, an art festival to inspire and support climate justice within the local community at the USC Fisher Museum in collaboration with Visions and Voices and the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and Gardening Hours organized by the USC Peace Garden and USC Garden Club focusing on adding native greenery to their plot.

“The challenge of climate change is immediate, and USC is setting an aggressive timeline to achieve carbon neutrality in a short amount of time,” said USC President Carol L. Folt. “Our responsibility is twofold — to our students who will inherit this world, and to the communities we share with our neighbors in Los Angeles. We’re answering the call to take immediate action to alleviate the worst effects of the climate crisis.”

Substantial progress toward this goal is already evident. Solar panels atop the Galen Center, USC’s multipurpose indoor arena, and the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Catalina Island have produced over 1 million kilowatt-hours of carbon-free energy since their installation in 2020. Other energy efficiencies account for 13% of the overall decrease in greenhouse gases since 2014.

In the five months since USC announced Assignment: Earth, the university has made enormous strides toward achieving its goals. Some of them include:

• Establishment of the USC Sustainability Hub, which provides community members with live, sustainability-related data regarding energy usage, building expenditures, campus greenery and transportation. The site also provides information on sustainable resources around campus, including water bottle refill stations, LEED-certified buildings and multi-stream waste bins.
• Grant of a total of $8.8 million to USC researchers to fund three innovative sustainability research projects, including the conversion of idle oil and gas wells into storage for renewable energies, the utilization of pollution-eating microbes and planting trees to support the growth of Los Angeles’ tree canopy
• Issuance of its first annual sustainability survey to engage the USC community and inform education programs, key components of the Assignment: Earth framework to establish a baseline for measuring progress on Assignment: Earth goals tied to sustainability literacy, culture and behaviors
• New agreement with the L.A. Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to purchase the equivalent of up to 25 megawatts of power and renewable energy credits from the Springbok 3 solar power plant in Mojave, leading to USC becoming the first institution to participate in the LADWP Clean Energy Adder program, which will fund clean energy initiatives in disadvantaged communities.
• Elimination of single-use plastic bottles at USC-run events, dining halls and restaurants on July 1, resulting in a dramatic decrease in usage and waste and averting purchase of over 570,000 plastic beverage bottles
• Releasing new architectural standards by USC Facilities Planning and Management which incorporate minimum requirements, best practices and aspirational measures for future building and renovations on USC buildings.

USC has established recognized expertise and leadership in sustainability, including academic and research programs that train future generations and develop innovative solutions that make a tangible global impact. The university offers 1,196 sustainability-focused or -inclusive courses and has 11 research centers, programs and institutes dedicated to sustainability research.