Climate Action
Since the 2017 Climate Action Plan, SDSU has made major strides toward its climate action and sustainability goals. In the 2025 Climate Action Update, you will learn about SDSU's sustainability accomplishments and what is in store for our ongoing committment to sustainability and climate action.
The 2025 Climate Action Plan Update highlights SDSU's committment to sustainability through four main goals:
- Operational carbon neutrality by 2040.
- 40% water use reduction from 2013 levels by 2035.
- Zero waste by 2030.
- Increase climate action and sustainability awareness and literacy.
The 2025 Update will serve as a roadmap for SDSU for the next five years, and annual tracking and reporting will capture campus progress. SDSU hopes to inspire the community to incorporate sustainability in their daily lives and support SDSU's efforts so we can all work together towards a more sustainable future.
SDSU has committed to operational carbon neutrality by 2040 and full carbon neutrality by 2050. A Carbon Neutrality Feasibility Study was completed in 2024. The study showed various pathways to achieve carbon neutral options by 2030 and 2040, pending availability of funding. The highest priority project and biggest opportunity for carbon savings at SDSU is transitioning the cogeneration and steam heating systems to electrified and low carbon alternatives.
The SDSU community has a long history of climate action efforts. On March 5th, 2014, President Elliot Hirshman signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. An implementation profile was submitted on June 6th, 2014 and a baseline greenhouse gas inventory was submitted on January 15th, 2016. The Climate Action Plan was approved by President Hirshman on April 27th, 2017. In 2019, two students (Christi Yip and Victoria Lawless) adapted the UN Habitat Toolkit for City Climate Action Plans for universities. Using this framework, they completed a review of the SDSU Climate Action Plan. Their framework has now been approved for use across the United States.
A status of each of the climate actions identified in the 2017 plan are available on the Climate Action Status Spreadsheet (Updated March 2023-June 2024). There were 26 areas noted for improvement and 129 listed actions. A final assessment of the actions was completed from March 2023 to June 2024. It was found that 42 actions were completed (33%), 54 actions remained in progress (42%), 20 were not started (15%), and 13 were abandoned (10%). It is important to note that actions were stalled significantly during 2020-2021 due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.
Check out the 2025 Climate Action Plan Update below!
