Sustainability

Hospitals and health systems are working hard to eliminate the negative health and climate impacts of energy consumption. UCI Health has taken important steps to improve energy efficiency and shift to clean, renewable energy to enhance patient outcomes and minimize costs.

As per the UC Sustainable Practices Policy, our goals for energy efficiency and cleaner energy include:

• Reducing energy use intensity by an average of at least 2% annually.
• Installing on-site renewable electricity supplies and energy storage systems whenever cost effective and/or supportive of climate action plans.
• Obtaining 100% clean electricity by 2025.

Our progress

At UCI Health, our energy achievements include:

• Implemented peak load shifting strategy and installed 1.9MW battery storage system.
• Reduced energy use intensity by 2.4% in 2024, exceeding the annual reduction goal.
• Decommissioned a fossil fuel cogeneration plant, reducing our natural gas consumption by more than 30%.
• Opened UCI Health – Irvine, the nation’s first medical complex powered by an all-electric central utilities plant. This plant will deliver clean energy to the entire campus, setting a precedent in an industry known for massive power demands and large carbon dioxide emissions.

UCI Health is committed to doing its part to address the health threats posed by climate change and to achieve the climate protection goals found in the UC Sustainable Practices Policy:

• Achieving at least a 90% reduction in total emissions (Scopes 1, 2 and 3) by no later than calendar year 2045 relative to a 2019 baseline year.
• Purchasing 100% clean electricity by 2025.
• Preparing an updated climate action plan to establish and achieve our greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. The plan is to be accepted by leadership prior to 2026 and implemented immediately.

Our progress

Decarbonization achievements at UCI Health include:

• Reduced carbon emissions from Scope 1 and 2 sources by 43% in 2024 from a 2019 baseline.
• Purchased 100% clean electricity.
• Completed a decarbonization study in September 2024 to evaluate strategies to achieve 90% reduction in Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions.

UCI Health is committed to ensuring that resilience and equity are accounted for in our organizational strategies. These strategies extend beyond the hospital walls to external engagement with community members, particularly vulnerable populations.

In partnership with UC Irvine, UCI Health conducted outreach and engaged students and at-risk communities in supporting equity-centered climate resilience planning efforts.

The types of food a hospital purchases can have a profound impact on the production practices used to grow and produce our food, can contribute to a strong and equitable economy by supporting local food businesses and can ensure justice for farm and food workers. UCI Health is committed to increasing the amount of local, sustainable and equitably produced foods we purchase.

As per the UC Sustainable Practices Policy, our food goals include:

• Increasing food service spending on sustainable food products by 30% in 2030, using Practice Greenhealth’s criteria for Healthier Food Purchasing Standards.
• Helping to support food choices by supplying patrons and foodservice staff with access to educational and training materials.
• Tracking the percentage of plant-based foods purchased to support greenhouse gas reduction.

Our progress

• Procured 15% sustainable and 11% local food products in fiscal year 2023. Our team continuously seeks opportunities to improve these numbers and strives to meet the 2030 goal.
• Hosted a series of celebrity chef healthy food demonstrations as part of our teaching kitchen in 2023.
• Signed the Practice Greenhealth Cool Food Pledge in 2023. Pledge members commit to a target of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the food they serve by 25% by 2030 relative to a 2015 baseline. Signatories track the climate impact of the food they serve, identify strategies for incorporating more plant-based foods into menu design and promote their achievements. In 2023, 43% of food purchases at UCI Health were plant proteins and other plant-based foods.

UCI Health is also working to prevent food waste and divert food materials from the waste stream:

• We offer collection receptacles for organic waste inside our dining facilities.
• We launched a pre-consumer waste initiative in September 2021 to divert food from landfills and to feed California’s livestock. For every ton of food diverted from our kitchen, we saved approximately 9,000 gallons of water and one acre of land. We have diverted 21 tons of waste from this initiative to date.
• UCI Health donates its excess edible food to Chefs to End Hunger, a nonprofit food recovery organization. In fiscal year 2024, we donated 1.91 tons of excess prepared food that is used to feed communities in need. Although we will continue to partner with Chefs to End Hunger and aim to ensure edible food is recovered to feed those in need, we are also working on source reduction strategies to address overproduction in our kitchens.
• In fiscal year 2023, we removed all single-use plastic bottles from our retail spaces. Previously, more than 20,000 plastic bottles of water, juices, sodas and protein shakes were sold every month. Those beverages are now sold in recyclable aluminum cans and glass bottles.

Healthcare facilities have a unique responsibility to ensure that building design and construction is sustainable and safe for staff, patients and visitors.   

At UCI Health, we are rethinking the design of buildings and renovations to make them smarter and more sustainable.

These are our sustainability goals for buildings based on the UC Sustainable Practices Policy:

New buildings and major renovations*

• Outperforming energy requirements of California Building Code (CBC) by at least 20% or meet the UC's whole-building energy performance targets.
• Satisfying criteria for LEED-BD+C (Building Design and Construction) Gold rating and striving for Platinum.
• Eliminating on-site fossil fuel combustion for space and water heating, except projects connected to an existing campus central thermal infrastructure.
• Achieving at least five points within the available credits in LEED-BD+C’s Water Efficiency and Sustainable Sites: Rainwater management categories and prioritize earning waste reduction and recycling credits.
• Designing, constructing and commissioning new parking structures to achieve Parksmart Silver certification at minimum, striving to achieve Gold whenever possible.

*A major renovation is defined as requiring 100% replacement of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and replacement of more than 50% of interior walls, doors, flooring and ceiling materials.

Acute care / hospital facilities and medical office buildings

• Outperforming the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1-2010 by at least 30% or meet UC’s whole-building energy performance targets.

Building interiors 

• Meeting a minimum LEED-ID+C (Interior Design and Construction) rating on renovations of $5 million or greater that are not major renovations. (This does not apply to acute care facilities.)

Our progress

• More than 21 buildings across UC Irvine’s campuses have earned a LEED Platinum designation as of 2024.
• The Joe C. Wen & Family Center for Advanced Care building achieved LEED Platinum in April 2024.
• The UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care building achieved LEED Gold in May 2024.
• The acute care hospital at UCI Health — Irvine is on track to be certified Platinum under the LEED for Healthcare (LEED-HC) rating system. We will be one of six hospitals in the U.S. to meet the Platinum level.
• The two parking structures on the UCI Health — Irvine campus are built to Parksmart Gold specifications.

Hospitals are environments for healing but many of the products and materials that are brought into a hospital may be harmful to patients, staff and the broader community. Some products used in healthcare may contain or release carcinogens, reproductive toxins or other hazardous materials.

UCI Health is committed to buying sustainable products and services, and implementing purchasing practices that reduce impacts on human health and the environment.

These are the UC systemwide policy goals that have been set for sustainable procurement:

• 100% compliance with required level green spending minimums within three years after a product and/or product category is added to the UC Sustainable Procurement Guidelines.
• 25% of spending in any product category must meet Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Preferred Level Green Spend. This target must be reached within three fiscal years after a category is added to the sustainable procurement guidelines.
• 25% of total spending must be from economically and socially responsible sources. This target must be reached within five fiscal years of adoption.
• A minimum of 15% of the points used to evaluate purchase proposals must be sustainability criteria.
• Packing materials should be non-toxic, biodegradable, 100% post-consumer recycled content that is recyclable or reusable, or not excessive.

Our progress

• In fiscal year 2024, our EPEAT Preferred Level Green Spend was 95.4%.
• In fiscal year 2024, UCI Health reprocessed 10.1 tons of single-use devices, a 94% increase from fiscal year 2023. 

Operating rooms can drive a facility’s cost savings and efficiency improvements through smart, incremental, sustainable practices. On average, operating rooms:

• Drive up to 60% of a hospital’s revenue
• Produce more than 30% of a facility’s waste and two-thirds of its regulated medical waste
• Can consume three to six times more energy per square foot than anywhere else in the facility

Our progress

UCI Health has implemented several strategies to mitigate these impacts:

• Eliminated the use of desflurane, an inhaled anesthetic gas with the highest global warming potential, in 2021.
• Reprocessed 10.1 tons of single-use devices in fiscal year 2024. This was a 94% increase over fiscal year 2023.

Hospitals are uniquely positioned to lead efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation by influencing employee commuter behaviors, transitioning to low- or zero-emission fleet vehicles and rethinking supply chain distribution practices.

UCI Health is working to reduce its environmental impact and has set the following goals for sustainable transportation based on the UC Sustainable Practices Policy:

• After July 1, 2023, zero-emission vehicles, plug-in hybrid, or dedicated clean transportation fueled vehicles will account for at least 50% of all vehicle acquisitions (including both leased and purchased vehicles).
• By 2025: Reducing the percentage of employees and students commuting by single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) by 10% relative to 2015 SOV commute rates.
• By 2050: No more than 40% employees and no more than 30% of all employees and students should commute to campus by SOV.
• By 2025: At least 4.5% of commuter vehicles must be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
• By 2050: At least 30% of commuter vehicles must be ZEVs.

Our progress

• 57% of all vehicles acquired in 2024 were electric (zero-emission), plug-in hybrid or clean transportation fuel.
• Added 14 dual-port and two single-port accessible electric vehicle charging stations in fiscal year 2024.
• 22% of students and employees used sustainable commuting methods in fiscal year 2024.

Hospitals produce more than 5 million tons of waste each year. Although waste is complex and expensive to manage, UCI Health is committed to better understanding its waste streams, how to measure them and how to reduce waste across our facilities.

The zero-waste goals at UCI Health are based on those outlined in the UC Sustainable Practices Policy:

• Achieving a target of 25 pounds of total waste per adjusted patient day by 2025.
• Striving for 20 pounds of total waste per adjusted patient day by 2030.

Our progress

Recycling

Recycling

Recycled 270 tons through our comingled recycling program in fiscal year 2024. Our long-term goal is to separate waste streams.

Recycled more than 633 tons of paper across our facilities in fiscal year 2024. Paper is our largest source of recycling. 

Reusable linens

Switched to reusable isolation gowns instead of disposable alternatives. In fiscal year 2024, we recycled 1.1 million isolation gowns. We are also shifting to a fully reusable curtain program across our facilities.

Plastics

Removed all single-use plastic bottles from our retail spaces in fiscal year 2023. Previously, more than 20,000 plastic bottles of water, juices, sodas and protein shakes were sold every month. Those beverages are now sold in recyclable aluminum cans and glass bottles.

Water quality and availability are both essential to protecting patient and worker health and critical to daily hospital operations. UCI Health is committed to reducing water consumption while enhancing patient outcomes and minimizing costs.

The sustainability goals for water at UCI Health include:

• Reducing potable water consumption (adjusted for campus growth), baseline for comparison is three-year average baseline water consumption from fiscal years 2005 to 2008.
• Developing and maintaining a water action plan.

Our progress

• Reduced annual water consumption by 13.8% in fiscal year 2024 from the previous year. We have already met UCOP's 2020 and 2025 water consumption reduction goals.