More than 1,000 universities globally committed to reduce their carbon emissions to zero by 2050, ahead of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. The United Nations University presented a report on the interconnectedness of disasters, and the University of Oxford announced a Nature-Positive Universities network to support institutions in reducing their impacts on nature.
There is barely a university to be found that has not launched environmental initiatives on campus and in their communities and countries. But strangely – amid a deluge of science and information, politics and posturing, activities and commitments – it has been tricky to get a handle on COP26. For many, it has been a social media whirl of disconnected one-liners.
Universities train the scientists and politicians who are at the centre of global climate change efforts, and many of the scientists are on their staff. But that is not enough and in the 2000s there has been growing commitment by many universities to make themselves more environmentally sustainable, chivvied along by students.
As COP26 opened in Glasgow, it was announced that 1,050 universities from 68 countries with some 10 million students had pledged to halve their emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050 at the latest.
The institutions have signed up over the past year to the Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges, which is a “global campaign to rally leadership and action in the education sector” led by the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education (EAUC) and Second Nature and supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
It is part of Race to Zero, which organises a coalition of net-zero initiatives representing 733 cities, 31 regions, 3,067 businesses and 173 big investors as well as universities.
More information: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20211113051642287