The University of California, Davis, is the “greenest” campus in North America and the seventh most sustainable campus in the world, according to the 2025 UI GreenMetric World University Rankings, published today (Dec. 5).

The rankings, established by the University of Indonesia in 2010, have recognized the campus as the leader in North America for 10 years in a row and among the world’s top 10 “greenest” universities for 13 consecutive years. 

In results grouped by the size of the university, UC Davis ranks fourth in the world among universities with more than 15,000 students and fourth among those with the largest campuses.

“At UC Davis, sustainability is embedded into every part of the university,” Chancellor Gary S. May said in a video prepared for the awards ceremony in Taiwan. “It’s at the heart of our infrastructure planning and woven into our coursework that includes sustainability principles across disciplines.”

He said the Fossil Fuel-Free Pathway Plan and campus decarbonization study are leading the campus transition in energy use and transportation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90%. A cornerstone of the effort is the Big Shift, a yearslong infrastructure project to enable the campus to heat buildings with electricity instead of natural gas.

May said UC Davis embraces the United Nations sustainable development goals and works with local and global partners to advance them. “From campus operations to public engagement, we are taking tangible steps toward a more sustainable world,” he said. “Our commitment to this work exemplifies UC Davis’s public mission — to apply science in the service of society and to pursue innovation for the greater good.”

The annual rankings, which this year showcase 1,745 institutions across 105 countries, consider universities’ policies and performance in the categories of setting and infrastructure (15%), energy and climate change (21%), waste (18%), water (10%), transportation (18%), and education and research (18%).

UC Davis and rankings

A world-class university, UC Davis is highly ranked for how it transforms students’ lives, the impact of its research, the excellence of its academic programs, sustainability and more. The university performs self-evaluations and also appreciates the value of third-party assessments. However, ranking methods vary, change over time and can be subjective. UC Davis focuses on those rankings that most closely align with its mission and values — including serving the public good, inclusiveness and equity, and social mobility — and in national rankings looks most closely at its standing among public universities. UC Davis encourages prospective students and their families to weigh rankings among other factors in their college decision, talk with counselors and UC Davis admissions advisors, and, if possible, visit the campus.