The Undergraduate Students Association Council passed a resolution Dec. 5 endorsing a commitment to 100% clean energy usage in UCLA by 2035.

The resolution, which passed unanimously with one abstention, sets a decarbonization target at least 10 years earlier than the current commitment by UCLA. UCLA and the other UC campuses will complete state-funded decarbonization studies this year, and UCLA intends to use the study recommendations to eliminate 90% of carbon emissions by 2045.

Clara Castronovo, the chapter chair of the California Public Interest Research Group at UCLA – a campus organization advocating for causes such as environmental protection – acknowledged that a clean energy transition at UCLA would be challenging.

“Based on the study results, whatever is the fastest feasible timeline is what’s ultimately being encouraged,” said Castronovo, a fourth-year classics and sociology student. “But we think that, as young people, 2045 feels really far away.”

Hy Ly, the campaign coordinator for the 100% clean energy campaign by CALPIRG at UCLA, added that he views complete decarbonization by 2035 as an investment into long-term safety – a pivot from often approaching climate-related damage with relief funds to instead funding infrastructure and activity that prevents this damage.

“Climate change is a very pressing and urgent issue,” said Ly, a second-year mechanical engineering student. “People lose their homes, and it takes a lot of effort and funding to rebuild.”

The 2045 decarbonization target is replacing UCLA’s initial goal of carbon neutrality by 2025. In 2013, then-UC President Janet Napolitano committed the UC system to carbon neutrality by 2025. Last year, UCLA joined the other UC campuses in withdrawing from that initiative in favor of the more expansive goal of decarbonization by 2045.

Nurit Katz, the chief sustainability officer at UCLA and co-chair of the Decarbonization Task Force, said in a statement that the effort to reach carbon neutrality was challenged by a reliance on carbon offsets, while decarbonization will require substantial financial resources but ultimately encompass broader goals. The feasibility of the 2035 decarbonization target would be decided by the study, she added in the statement.

The resolution draft was based in large part on CALPIRG at UCLA campaign goals.

“It’s a great resolution,” said Adam Tfayli, the USAC international student representative. “It would be very hard to disagree with the resolution because it’s written in terms that are favorable to everyone and just benefit everyone.”

The resolution identifies UCLA as both a model on environmental issues and a polluter responsible for hundreds of thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents.

Katz said in the statement that the power plant on campus is an example of this contradiction.

“The Energy Systems Facility, or cogeneration plant, has been one of the greatest resources for UCLA to reduce its emissions over the last three decades,” Katz said in the statement. “Now as the grid transitions to renewables, the facility remains a significant source of emissions we must address on the path to decarbonization.”

Castronovo also said the nature of the campus presents a challenge to decarbonization because there is less room for physical infrastructure since the population size is relatively larger than the campus. Such limitations, as well as disruption to the student experience due to campus modification, are among the facets considered by the study, she added.

“Based off of the study results, the chancellor and some other top administration people are going to choose a path forward for the university in terms of clean energy, carbon emissions, things like that,” Castronovo said. “This is a really important opportunity for students to give their input about what we want.”