Tag: Climate

  • Universities, climate, and COP30 | Wonkhe

    Universities, climate, and COP30 | Wonkhe

    It was announced in October that Earth has reached its first catastrophic climate tipping point, with warm water coral reefs facing long-term decline.

    The report was produced by the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, a world-leading centre in climate change research, and it carries the stark warning of further impacts – like melting of the polar ice sheets, and dieback of the Amazon rainforest – that “would cascade through the ecological and social systems we depend upon, creating escalating damages.”

    Despite such findings emphasizing the need for more effective and faster progress, the consensus about climate action needed to propel change that existed in 2019 has given way to scepticism and cynicism in some quarters.

    Political parties and influential figures in the UK (and beyond) are turning their attention away from the climate crisis and Net Zero, if they don’t dismiss it outright. The Conservatives have pledged to repeal the Climate Change Act, claiming it has harmed the economy. Reform supports the continuing use of fossil fuels. Donald Trump has recently called climate change a ‘con job’.

    So political support for Net Zero, and by extension the climate emergency, is shaky. As a result, there is a risk to climate action being perceived by the wider public to be unfair, something that forces a negative economic impact on their lives, and that’s out of touch with the concerns and needs of ordinary people.

    A fair COP?

    With these developments forming part of the backdrop of the COP30 global climate summit, that took place in Brazil in November, and mindful of there being a need to transform the narrative on climate action, the President of COP30 (Ambassador André Aranha Corrêa do Lago) made it his mission to turn the story about tipping points from one of doom and danger into one of hope, opportunity, and possibility.

    Although confidently billed in advance as “the implementation COP”, in fact it concluded as anything but. One positive outcome of the event was agreement to establish a just transition mechanism that would enable equitable and inclusive transitions for communities of workers in high-carbon industries shifting to clean energy and a climate-resilient future: though participation in the mechanism is nonetheless voluntary.

    There was a modest step towards the phasing out of fossil fuels amidst accounts of fractious talks and frantic negotiations. Outside, indigenous groups protested, and a thunderstorm caused flooding and brought down trees; the climate crisis visiting the venue, literally. Other commentators speak of underwhelm and disappointment, judging that COP30 did not deliver a turning point, and that not much will change if climate action is left to governments – it being instead down to other organisations and individuals to take collective responsibility.

    What it means for the sector

    Universities, with their core mission of delivering for the public good, have a pivotal role here. A poll published by the University of Cambridge last year demonstrated that nearly two-thirds of adults expect universities to come up with ways of fixing the climate crisis. The need for universities to “[ground] the realities of a sustainable future in the day to day of people’s lives” was advocated by James Coe in Wonkhe three years ago.

    How does what UK universities are doing on climate action now reflect these matters and respond to the attendant challenges?

    Here are some examples that offer reasons to have hope for the future.

    The reassuring starting point is that there continues to be consensus within higher education about the need for climate action. The UK Universities Climate Network includes academic and professional services staff from over 90 institutions advancing climate action and promoting a “zero carbon, resilient future”, and the University Alliance of professional and technical universities aims to find “practical solutions to pressing climate challenges, making a difference for people in their everyday lives”.

    Much of what universities do to exert influence on climate action is through research grounded in science which seeks to inform policy-making by developing human understanding of the consequences of climate change, and how its effects will play out in different geographical contexts. Leading academics in climate change contributed to the National Emergency Briefing in Westminster on 27 November, a gathering of political, media and business figures.

    Meanwhile, research that leads to the design and implementation of scientific solutions provides tangible evidence of public benefit. The Sheffield Institute for Sustainable Food has recently published work on transforming food systems, addressing public health and biodiversity challenges. Its recommendations include incentivising the growing of beans and peas, which are both healthy for people and require less energy, land, and water to grow, have a lower carbon footprint compared with animal products, and are good for the soil.

    A connection is made

    One thing that’s persuasive about this is how it relates climate action to real lives and issues that carry significance for people, like health, food, and – this is the UK after all – the weather. Another fascinating example in this vein is the Weathering Identity: Weather and Memory in England project at the King’s Climate Research Hub. This involved the gathering of oral histories of the weather and how it has shaped individual lives, and considering how more frequent extreme weather events might alter human memory and sense of place.

    A different way in which universities convince with their action on climate change, especially in a world where many are cynical about the established order, is by demonstrating they are not simply acting in a business-as-usual way and ‘admiring the problems’ caused by current policy. One example of critical thinking with reflection on radical policy change is James Dyke’s System Update film, which challenges the “incremental and timid policies of today” in search of a better world, putting the spotlight on the role that continuous economic and material growth has in causing ecological degradation. The film also suggests that citizens’ assemblies of people who are invested in meeting climate change challenges in the longer term could play a larger role in determining policy. In recent years several UK universities have convened their own climate assemblies mobilising students and staff.

    Living through change

    Building on that idea of public empowerment, there is a strand of university research focusing on the abilities and education needed to help people live through and address the challenges of climate change. Researchers at University College London have suggested ways of embedding climate education into the secondary curriculum, promoting emotional engagement with the climate crisis as a means of helping young people avoid negative feelings, and motivating them to take action.

    Environmental and social justice go hand in hand and feature prominently in university climate action. The Priestley Centre for Climate Futures in Leeds has a study looking at how the climate crisis, decarbonisation, and net zero will impact the world of work, with the guiding principle that climate transformation measures should be just and fair for workers.

    And across the Pennines, the JUST centre based at the University of Manchester but involving researchers from a group of northern institutions focuses on the pursuit of sustainability transformations that are people-centred, joined-up and socially just for citizens in regions that benefit the least from dominant economic and political systems.

    The field of arts and cultures has always played a part in inspiring reflection – which is itself a form of action – sparking emotions, and firing the imagination of its audience, with the potential to ultimately lead that audience to doing something transformative. VOTUM at Hadrian’s Wall is an art project supported by Newcastle University, part of a programme where artists are invited to undertake research inspired by Roman archaeology and climate research. Interlocking mirrored shields arranged in the shapes of artefacts found at the Wall reflect the sky and show the viewer themselves in the landscape, holding a mirror up to people and challenging them to think about their impact on the environment.

    What the examples above show is that, through work responding to climate change, universities are collectively addressing some of the concerns that are important to everyone whatever their background: healthy living, sustainable places and communities, and empowering people to maximise their potential.

    They are aligned with the narrative of the future that the COP30 President said should be “not imposed by catastrophe, but designed through cooperation”. Universities are committed to urgent climate action, but the story these examples offer is not gloomy, alienating, or dispiriting; it is engaging, inclusive and hopeful.

    It has the power to counteract climate denialism and allay doubts over net zero; it speaks of collective responsibility and points towards the possibility of a world that is fairer and greener.

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  • To fight climate change, begin in the classroom

    To fight climate change, begin in the classroom

    A good teacher stays with you. For me it was my Grade 9 English teacher, Mrs. Renshaw, who was an eagle in a smart skirt suit, her beak always pointed in your direction, her eyes sharp and seeing. She scared us.

    The highest value, she often said, was “self discipline”. You would not be late to Mrs. Renshaw’s class.

    She stays with me not because some students cried under her screech, but because of the way she taught. We would begin every class by writing a caption to a funny image — a bicycle with square wheels or a whale breathing on land.

    We would then read, all together, one student out loud at a time, before discussing the themes of the story and its meaning.

    We didn’t have to wait for social science or psychology class to discuss such things as war, power structures, human instinct or violence because in Mrs. Renshaw’s class, we read and discussed “Lord of the Flies”. She thrived on hearing our interpretations of an author’s intentional and unintentional meaning and on hearing the stories we would come up with ourselves.

    She passed away a few years after I left high school, but Mrs. Renshaw left something powerful with me: A passion for stories as a way of understanding our world.

    Learning through stories

    For all teachers out there, Mrs. Renshaw left this lesson: Stories could be the main vessel through which we teach and through which we can empower youth.

    This is the heart of the EYES project.

    It started as an idea, almost precisely two years ago, driven by the bright headlights of two organisations: News Decoder and the The Environment and Human Rights Academy.

    The goal? Combine authoritative climate education and journalism to create a pathway for youth to deep knowledge.

    We would design a climate change curriculum with a systems approach and justice lens, grounded in storytelling, to provide teachers with an innovative and flexible way of teaching something multifaceted and vital — and to provide students with the agency to take action.

    The curriculum wouldn’t prescribe shorter showers or fewer beef burgers. It would instead shine light on the systems that keep the climate crisis in a relentless spiral and the injustices that have come as a result. And it would give students this fundamental task: Find the stories of the people and systems at the heart of climate change, but in their own communities and circumstances. We would guide them in communicating these stories to the world.

    Seeing the small parts that make a big problem

    They could start, maybe, with saving water if they have water to save and eating a plant-based diet if that’s available and affordable to them, but they should understand those are just pieces of a giant problem.

    By finding and telling stories, by being a journalist in one’s own community, students can start to connect the different pieces of climate change to their own circumstances and to feel a different sense of agency.

    Producing the climate storytelling curriculum was one thing. The challenge was getting it into schools. We ended up piloting it in ten countries — five in the European Union, five outside Europe — to gather feedback and refine the materials into a curriculum that can be added to any educator’s repertoire.

    We soon collided with reality. Tight school curricula leave little room for innovation. Teachers are busy. How to present something both complex and innovative in a way that is engaging, tangible and accessible to all students between the ages of 15 and 18?

    We built up a team of pilot teachers — springboarding from our networks -– and gave them a set of seven modules that explored such things as fossil fuel emissions, the carbon budget, climate justice and reasons to focus away from individual carbon footprints.

    Reporting climate change

    The modules included a project for students. They would pick a topic and report on it as journalists. That meant conducting interviews, gathering data and presenting it in a multimedia format.

    We imagined deep investigations, groundbreaking documentaries, enlivened youth.

    We organised in-person events to see how this curriculum would empower students in real time. In Brussels, we spoke with students about how emitting fossil fuels stays profitable and about how one area in Mumbai can be six degrees hotter than its immediate — and wealthier -– neighbouring area.

    In Paris, students pitched stories about climate injustice, and in Pristina, Kosovo, Roma students drew images of their own lived reality of climate change. We were in Romania and Serbia, and in two alternative education spaces in Portugal, where all modules were delivered to students who came from complex social backgrounds.

    We supported our pilot teachers in Cameroon, Colombia and Kenya from afar and connected students in Colombia, Kenya and Slovenia by making them “pen pals” so they could exchange letters on their differing lived experiences of climate change.

    Change doesn’t come easy.

    But we kept falling back onto the same challenges: time is squeezed at schools and climate injustice — a reality often experienced “elsewhere” — is hard to convey to young people.

    We get it. The economic system that climate change is rooted in is a hard one to grasp when you’re trying to figure out whether to go to university or how to get a job or what career to train for.

    It was disheartening. Was anyone really being empowered? There was little pick up and a whole lot of resistance, despite the innovative social science research that was at the heart of our program.

    And so again, we came back to the thread of the project — storytelling. After all, as author and organizational consultant Peg Neuhauser said: “No tribal chief or elder has ever handed out statistical reports, charts, graphs or lists to explain where the group is headed or what it must do.”

    It was in a conference room just south of Brussels, over three days in crisp October, that the wick of the project’s candle was finally lit. Educators from across Europe gathered around a large table to revitalise their teaching and, as the project was coming to a close, they opened a door I’d turned a blind eye to.

    Inspiring teachers to empower youth

    They listened, they contributed and they gave us a sense that we’d done it. We had laid down the soil. We had planted the seeds. All we needed were enthusiastic and present teachers to find the time and space to be together. This was the bright and warm spring we were waiting for.

    We saw that our curriculum was not a rigid product but a set of concepts, pedagogies and ideas that could be adapted by skilled and passionate teachers. And we could trust them to do that. The magic wasn’t in what we gave them, but in feeding the fire they already had for teaching climate change.

    The EYES curriculum is now as follows: 16 standalone classroom units each dealing with one concept — from tipping points to systemic change, from human–nature connection to green extractivism — and each including a bite-size storytelling activity such as come up with a pitch, explain a concept, make a connection. It includes six journalism guides from the principles of journalism and how to spot greenwashing, to how to interview and write an article.

    There’s an Educators’ Guide produced from the brainstorming of that workshop in Brussels, a blog written by educators and students and a podcast series featuring brilliant thinkers. All materials are freely available to educators wherever they teach.

    Ultimately, the success of EYES comes down to people: The educators; the advisory board; the students who were enlightened and empowered; the brilliance, strength and kindness of Andreea Pletea at The Environment and Human Rights Academy and her intimidatingly intelligent colleagues Anka Stankovic and Sebastien Kaye; the team at Young Educators European Association who bolstered the project when it was needed by helping to reach more students; Matthew and Jules Pye of The Climate Academy for transforming my way of seeing this global challenge; and my fantastic, curious and creative colleagues at News Decoder.

    Empowering Youth through Environmental Storytelling comes to an end on 31 December. And as I close my laptop on EYES for the final time, I am assured that I leave behind something that will continue to spread in classrooms and help teachers and students find the climate stories yet to be told.

    As Mrs. Renshaw taught me: A story does not end on the last page. It lives on in those it touches.

    Questions to consider:

    1. How can storytelling help students learn?

    2. What does it mean to look at a problem at the systems level?

    3. If you were going to explore a topic related to climate change, what would you tackle?

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  • Are you aware of your level of climate ignorance?

    Are you aware of your level of climate ignorance?

    Do you know which country emits the most greenhouse gases per capita? If not, you aren’t alone.

    I’m a student at The Climate Academy, an international organization founded by philosopher and climate activist Matthew Pye who teaches students about climate change from a systems point of view.

    This year, we surveyed almost 500 people in Brussels, Varese and Milan to analyse the level of climate literacy among populations across Europe. Many people we surveyed pointed at large emitters such as the United States, China and India.

    Yes, these are big emitters in quantity, but when it comes to per capita emissions — the amount divided by the population of the country — the top three are smaller, wealthy countries: Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium.

    These numbers can be explained by the extremely consumeristic, luxury lifestyle of the overwhelming majority of their citizens and the over-reliance on fossil fuels for generating energy. Yet, in our survey, 378 people out of 468 — 81% — named the United States, China or India.

    We must refocus the lens.

    What does this mean? That the media attention is on the wrong players. As stated by the World Economic Forum:

    “When India surpassed the European Union in total annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2019 becoming the third largest emitting country after China and the United States, that statistic only told part of the story. India’s population is nearly three times larger than that of the EU, so based on emissions per person, India ranks much lower among the world’s national emitters.”

    It is crucial to look at per capita emissions. That’s the conclusion of the Global Change Data Lab, a nonprofit organization that produces Our World in Data. It argues that annual national emissions do not take population size into account.

    “All else being equal, we might expect that a country with more people would have higher emissions,” it reported. “Emissions per person are often seen as a fairer way of comparing. Historically — and as is still true in low- and middle-income countries today — CO2 emissions and incomes have been tightly coupled. That means that low per capita emissions have been an indicator of low incomes and high poverty levels.”

    Europe often points at big emitters, but the comfortable lifestyles Europeans have due to their higher living standards aren’t sustainable.

    Who to blame for climate change?

    There’s a misconception that the more a country emits, the more responsible the country is for climate change.

    This is the result of intense lobbying and voluntary misdirection by the richest. The wealthiest individuals are undoubtedly responsible for a considerably higher share of global emissions. But we’re often told that countries like China and India are the most responsible, as they are some of the world’s biggest polluters, a fact which is widely recognized.

    Pye said it isn’t a surprise that the focus is on numbers at the macro level, as international organizations like the United Nations were created by the main global powers and they are still funded mainly by them.

    “Keeping the language and the numbers about the problem general and global masks the fact that the majority of our [per capita] emissions are still from these rich nations,” he said. “This lack of clarity about who is responsible is reflected right across global media coverage. It is not by chance that we don’t have a clear view of the vital statistics, it is by subtle and powerful design.”

    The UN is founded on the principle of human rights, he said.

    “Should it not think and act on climate change with everyone having an equal right to the air?” Pye said. “When you look at per capita and consumption emissions the whole landscape of responsibility is radically different.”

    Surveying people about greenhouse gases

    I conducted my part of the survey in a middle-class neighborhood of Brussels.

    When I asked a 20-year-old, “What would the consequences of a two degree increase in global temperature be?” I got this answer: “More meteorites.” When I put the same question to someone 50 years of age, the answer was, “It’s going to be cold.”

    A 75-year old told me: “I don’t believe in climate change. There were examples of extreme heat in the 17th century, it is natural. Climate change is a tool of the government to control us.”

    All of these are misconceptions about weather events, temperature patterns and the source and type of climate change we experience.

    Now, this survey included only a small sample of the population. But it already shows that the misconceptions in education about climate change are real and existent across every generation and in many ways. Many other surveys made by reputable organizations have supported this conclusion.

    What people don’t know

    A 2010 report by the Yale University Program on Climate Change Education found that 63% of Americans believed that global warming was happening, but many did not understand why. In this assessment, only 8% of Americans had knowledge equivalent to an A or B, 40% would receive a C or D, and 52% would get an F.

    A report by King’s College in London, based on a 2019 survey, found a similar level of ignorance.

    Misconceptions are still here, waiting to be tackled. It starts in schools, where new, fresh generations without bias or misconceptions are formed. It starts at home, where parents should adapt and teach their kids the basics. Proper educational programs should be set up by governments.

    This seems natural. But just a few months ago, in the United States, the Trump administration cut funding for schools that hold educational programs on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

    Educational systems, too, spread misconceptions about climate change. Because we never stop learning, educational systems shouldn’t have such flaws and should provide accurate information.

    As we dive deeper into the climate crisis, proper knowledge and understanding will be key to systemic change and governmental response.

    Until information on climate change becomes a public good, we will continue to “debate what kind of swimming costume we will wear as the tsunami comes.” Those are the words of then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson before the 2008 financial crisis.

    Questions to consider:

    1. Why is it important to consider the size of a population when considering responsibility for climate change?

    2. What is meant by “climate ignorance”?

    3. How can you learn more about climate change?

     

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  • Climate change brings new worries to an old industry

    Climate change brings new worries to an old industry

    It is another early harvest for the Vignoble des Agaises, a vineyard in the region of Mons in Belgium. While the country is widely known for its variety of Trappist beers, the proximity that Mons and the region of Wallonia bears to French Burgundy and Picardie influences the local drinking culture. 

    Indeed, wine means a great deal to Arnaud Leroy, the vineyard’s sales manager. He and his family have, for 20 years now, pioneered the potential of the frontier that is Southern Belgium in the production of champagne and other sparkling wines. 

    Wine has been a staple of the regional economy and culture for centuries and has been a vital part of Leroy’s life and that of millions of other people around the world. Recently, however, a series of early frosts have decimated large quantities of the harvests in the lands stretching from Lombardy to Flanders. 

    These poor harvests have left many local vineyards in a state of financial uncertainty. Such events aren’t unique to the regions of Western Europe. Similar problems and hardships have been experienced in most other winemaking regions of Europe and have caused harm to winemaking communities around the world.

    Europe has been hit by what may only be compared to a “tidal wave” of change as previously predictable and constant meteorological conditions that have allowed winemaking to prosper in these regions for millennia have been altered significantly in the span of nearly a few decades.

    “In the last 10 years we have always harvested in October,” Leroy said. “But recent harvests have systematically been earlier and earlier into September, this year’s harvest being around the third of September.” This seemingly light change may have an outsized impact on the nature of the wine produced, deeply affecting the wine’s taste and composition.

    With wine, climate is everything.

    Wine is widely regarded as one of the most climate-sensitive crop cultures, experiencing possible changes to its texture, taste and tannin density from even the smallest constant meteorological change. 

    Earlier harvests can affect the wine’s taste, as a low maturation of the grapes may cause an increased sourness and a less sweet taste as well as a lighter, less-defined aroma, while spring frosts like the ones experienced in the last few years may cause the exact opposite, making a much sweeter, less-acidic and more tannin heavy wine. 

    Thus, the taste of many well-established sorts and brands of wines may be inconsistent and altered significantly by the seasonal changes brought by the climate crisis. Renowned regions such as Tuscany, Burgundy, Greece, the Rhine Valley, California and many more may be considerably different — and potentially even in danger of being displaced in a few decades.

    Indeed, it would seem one of Europe’s oldest industries is in a crisis. Wine has been a luxury product for thousands of years and holds a cultural, economic, social and historical value that few other comparable goods hold. 

    Associated with the higher class and nobility for centuries and being a valued good for over 10 millennia, wine is arguably one of Europe’s most important goods. It holds a vital place in Christian tradition and practice and — having two saints and a multitude of deities of hundreds of religions and mythologies — it is perhaps one of the most important components to the cultural development of the continent and perhaps, of the world.

    Addressing climate change

    The changes experienced in the last decades have not gone unnoticed. Many oenologists and vintners have called for more attention and action in the fight against climate change and the seasonal changes it may bring. What is now often called a crisis is even further fueled by other external causes.

    “The younger generation simply consumes less alcohol,” Leroy said. This makes the financial impact of said seasonal effects even more devastating to the smaller domaines and vineyards while bigger producers cling on to what is left of their harvests. 

    This year’s harvest has been plentiful and record-breaking in some regions such as Champagne, mostly due to favourable conditions and the development of better technology. But this success has taken media attention away from the longer term crisis.

    In the summer of 2025 large floods hit the regions of Picardie in Belgium and Champagne in France, causing two deaths and large amounts of damage to private property and agricultural lands, further hindering the European wine market.

    Even worse, in the case of an increase of two degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit) of global temperatures, scientists warn that the world may pass a tipping point (a point of irreversibility) in the patterns of ocean currents, potentially causing drastic change to the European climate as we know it — a threat that has been mostly ignored by mass media and climatological institutions. 

    And that threat is only about 20 years from now.

    Some grapes suffer, others thrive.

    This doesn’t mean, however, that absolutely all regions will suffer and that there are no solutions. In some southern parts of Sweden for instance, a multitude of new, more resilient vines have laid the foundation for a Scandinavian wine industry, made possible due to the changes experienced in the local climate. 

    “While there have been some exceptions, notably in 2024, wine production has been top quality,” Leroy said. “The earlier harvests have their advantages.”

    As older, more renowned wine producing regions lose their significance, this instability may prove a good time for newer regions and producers with other defined traits such as Scandinavia, the Balkans and the Agaises vineyard with their chalky ground and distinct latitude to fill in the gap left by the older producers. 

    Of course, a solution to the entire issue would be the halting or at least the delaying of climate change through the lowering of consumption and of carbon emissions. But such halting would take a tremendous individual and national effort that is lacking in Europe and in the world. 

    Thus, this problem presents us with yet another reason to continue the costly yet imperative fight against the climate crisis and all effects that it causes.

    Questions to consider:

    1. What does the author mean by a “tidal wave” of change that has hit Europe?

    2. How can climate change help grape growing in some regions when it devastates other regions?

    3. Can you think of other long-time industries that have been affected by climate change?

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  • Why so much confusion over climate change?

    Why so much confusion over climate change?

    Bwambale estimates that less than 1% of the global population truly grasps the implications of climate change. “Even worse are Ugandans,” he said.

    Gerison pointed out that much of the population of Uganda is young. “With 80% below the age of 25, many haven’t witnessed the full extent of climate changes,” he said.

    A diminishing crop is easily understood.

    Janet Ndagire, Bwambale’s colleague, said it is difficult for Ugandan natives to connect with climate campaigns. They often perceive them as obstacles to survival rather than crucial interventions.

    “Imagine telling someone who relies on charcoal burning for survival that cutting down a tree could be hazardous!” Ndagire said. “It doesn’t make sense to them, especially when the tree is on their plot of land.”

    Reflecting on personal experiences, Ndagire recalled childhood days of going to sleep fully covered. Nowadays it is too hot to do that, he said.

    Ssiragaba Edison Tubonyintwari, a seasoned bus driver originally from western Uganda but currently driving with the United Nations, recounts the challenges of driving between 5 and 9 AM in the Albertine rift eco-region especially around the Ecuya forest reserve.

    “It would be covered in mist,” said Tubonyintwari. “We’d ask two people to stand in front, one on either side of the bus, signalling for you to drive forward, or else, you couldn’t see two metres away. Currently, people drive all day and night!”

    Irish potatoes in the African wetlands

    What happened? Tubonyintwari pointed to unauthorised tree cutting in the reserve, residential constructions and the cultivation of tea alongside Irish potatoes in the wetlands. The result was rising temperatures.

    His account supplements a Global Forest Watch report which puts commodity-driven deforestation above urbanisation.

    It’s notable that Tubonyintwari didn’t explicitly use the term “climate change,” yet the sexagenarian can effectively explain the underlying concept through his detailed description of altered environmental conditions.

    Global Forest Watch reports alarming deforestation trends, with 5.8 million hectares lost globally in 2022. In Uganda, more than 6,000 deforestation alerts were recorded between 22 and 29 November this year.

    The consequences of such environmental degradation are dire. Ndagire emphasised that those who once wielded axes and chainsaws for firewood are now the very individuals facing reduced crop yields due to extreme weather conditions.

    Even as Uganda grapples with the aftermath of a sudden surge in heavy rains from last October, Bwambale questions the country’s meteorological department, highlighting the failure to provide precise explanations and climate-aware preparations.

    These interconnected narratives emphasise the need for accessible climate campaigns and community-driven solutions. As COP28 gathers elites, the call for a simplified narrative gains prominence, mirroring successful communication models seen during the Covid-19 pandemic; else it’s the same old throwing of good money after bad.

    Questions to consider:

    1. Why does deforestation continue in places like Uganda when people know about its long-term consequences?

    2. In what ways are high level discussions about climate change disconnected from people’s everyday experiences?

    3. In what way do you think scientists and environmentalists need to change the climate change narrative?

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  • Teachers unions leverage contracts to fight climate change

    Teachers unions leverage contracts to fight climate change

    This story first appeared in Hechinger’s climate and education newsletter. Sign up here. 

    In Illinois, the Chicago Teachers Union won a contract with the city’s schools to add solar panels on some buildings and clean energy career pathways for students, among other actions. In Minnesota, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators demanded that the district create a task force on environmental issues and provide free metro passes for students. And in California, the Los Angeles teachers union’s demands include electrifying the district’s bus fleet and providing electric vehicle charging stations at all schools. 

    Those are among the examples in a new report on how unionized teachers are pushing their school districts to take action on the climate crisis, which is damaging school buildings and disrupting learning. The report — produced by the nonprofit Building Power Resource Center, which supports local governments and leaders, and the Labor Network for Sustainability, a nonprofit that seeks to unite labor and climate groups — describes how educators can raise demands for climate action when they negotiate labor contracts with their districts. By emphasizing the financial case for switching to renewable energy, educators can simultaneously act on climate change, improve conditions in schools and save districts money, it says. 

    As federal support and financial incentives for climate action wither, this sort of local action is becoming more difficult — but also more urgent, advocates say. Chicago Public Schools has relied on funding for electric buses that has been sunsetted by the Trump administration, said Jackson Potter, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union. But the district is also seeking other local and state funding and nonprofit support.

    Bradley Marianno, an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said that educator unions embracing climate action is part of a move started about 15 years ago in which more progressive unions — like those in Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere — focus on “collective good bargaining,” or advocating for changes that are good for their members but also the broader community. But this approach is unlikely to catch on everywhere: “The risk lies in members feeling that core issues like wages and working conditions are being overlooked in favor of more global causes,” he wrote in an email. 

    I recently caught up with Potter, the CTU vice president, about the report and his union’s approach to bargaining for climate action. Collaborating with local environmental and community groups, the Chicago Teachers Union ultimately succeeded in winning a contract that calls for identifying schools for solar panels and electrification, expanding indoor air quality monitoring, helping educators integrate climate change into their curriculum, and establishing training for students in clean energy jobs, among other steps. 

    This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

    The report talks about contract negotiations being an underused — and effective — lever for demanding climate action. Why do you see that process as such an opportunity for climate action?

    On the local level, our schools are 84, 83 years old on average. There is lead paint, lead pipes, mold, asbestos, PCBs, all kinds of contamination in the HVAC system and the walls that require upgrades. By our estimate, the district needs $30 billion worth of upgrades, and right now I think they spend $500 million a year to just do patch-up work. We’re at a point where it’s a system fail of epic proportions if we can’t figure out a way to transition and make things healthier. And so if you’re going to do a roof repair, put solar on it, have independence from fossil fuels, clean air in areas that have faced environmental racism and contamination. 

    We’re also dealing with a legacy of discrimination and harm, and that is true of the nation. So how do we get out of this and also save the planet and also prevent greater climate events that further destabilize vulnerable communities and put people at risk? It made sense for us to use our contract as a path to do both things — deal with this local crisis that was screaming for new solutions and ideas, in a moment when the climate is on fire, literally.  

    How challenging was it to get educators to view climate issues as a priority? There are so many other things, around pay and other issues, on the table. 

    When we started, it almost felt like people in the membership, in the community, viewed it as a niche issue. Like, ‘Oh, isn’t that cute, you care about green technology.’ As we figured out how to think about it and talk about it and probe where people were having issues in their schools, it became really obvious that when you started talking about asbestos, lead and mold remediation — and helping communities that have been hit the hardest with cumulative impacts and carcinogens and how those things are present in schools — that became much more tangible. Or even quality food and lunch and breakfast for students who are low-income. It went from bottom of the list to top of the list, instantaneously. 

    Your contract calls for a number of climate-related actions, including green pathways for students and agreements with building trade unions to create good jobs for students. Tell me about that. 

    We’re trying to use the transformation of our facilities as another opportunity for families and students in these communities that have been harmed the most to get the greatest benefit from the transformation. So if we can install solar, we want our students to be part of that project on the ground in their schools, gaining the skills and apprenticeship credentials to become the electricians of the future. And using that as a project labor agreement [which establishes the terms of work on a certain project] with the trades to open doors and opportunities. The same goes for all the other improvements — whether it’s heat pumps, HVAC systems, geothermal. And for EV — we have outdated auto shop programming that’s exclusively based on the combustible engine reliant on fossil fuels, whereas in [the nearby city of] Belvidere they are building electric cars per the United Auto Workers’ new contract. Could we gain a career path on electric vehicles that allows students to gain that mechanical knowledge and insight and prepares them for the vehicles of the future? 

    The report talks about the Batesville School District in Arkansas that was able to increase teacher salaries because of savings from solar. Have you tried to make the case for higher teacher salaries because of these climate steps?  

    The $500 million our district allocates for facility upgrades annually comes out of the general fund, so we haven’t at all thought about it in terms of salary. We’ve thought about it in terms of having a school nurse, social worker, mental health interventions at a moment when there is so much trauma. We see this as a win-win: The fewer dollars the district has to spend on facility needs means the more dollars they can spend on instructional and social-emotional needs for students. In terms of the Arkansas model, it’s pretty basic. If you get off the fossil fuel pipelines and electric lines and you become self-sufficient, essentially, powering your own electric and heat, there is going to be a boon, particularly if there are up-front subsidies. 

    Math and climate change 

    When temperatures rise in classrooms, students have more trouble concentrating and their learning suffers — in math, in particular. That’s according to a new report from NWEA, an education research and testing company.

    The report, part of a growing body of evidence of the harms of extreme heat on student performance, found that math scores declined when outdoor temperatures on test days rose above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Students in high-poverty schools, which are less likely to have air conditioning, saw declines up to twice as large as those in wealthier schools. 

    The learning losses grew as temperatures rose. Students who took tests on 101-degree days scored roughly 0.06 standard deviations below students who tested when temperatures were 60 degrees, the equivalent of about 10 percent of the learning a fifth grader typically gains in a school year. 

    It’s not entirely clear why student math scores suffer more than reading when temperatures rise. But Sofia Postell, an NWEA research analyst, said that on math tests, students must problem-solve and rely on their memories, and that kind of thinking is particularly difficult when students are hot and tired. Anxiety could be a factor too, she wrote in an email: “Research has also shown that heat increases anxiety, and some students may experience more testing anxiety around math exams.”

    The study was based on data from roughly 3 million scores on NWEA’s signature MAP Growth test for third to eighth graders in six states. 

    The report urged school, district and state officials to take several steps to reduce the effects of high heat on student learning and testing. Ideally, tests would be scheduled during times of the year when it wasn’t so hot, it said, and also during mornings, when temperatures are cooler. Leaders also need to invest in updating HVAC systems to keep kids cool. 

    “Extreme heat has already detrimentally impacted student learning and these effects will only intensify without action,” wrote Postell. 

    Mea culpa: A quick note to say I got two things wrong in my last newsletter — the name of the Natural Resources Defense Council was incorrect, as was the number of hours of learning California students have missed so far this year. It’s more than 54,000. 

    Contact editor Caroline Preston at 212-870-8965, via Signal at CarolineP.83 or on email at [email protected].

    This story about teachers unions was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter on climate and education.

    The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

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  • When young girls pay the cost of climate change

    When young girls pay the cost of climate change

    Jaffarabad, Balochistan: When floodwaters swept through Shaista’s village in 2022, they didn’t just take her family’s home and farmland, they also took away her childhood. Just 14 years old, Shaista was married off to a man twice her age in exchange for a small dowry. 

    Her father, a daily wage laborer, said it was the most painful decision he has ever made.

    “I didn’t want to do it,” he said, his eyes fixed on the cracked earth where his fields used to be. “But I have four other children to feed and no land to farm. We lost everything.”

    Stories like Shaista’s are becoming increasingly common across Balochistan, Pakistan’s poorest province. In 2022, devastating floods there driven by record-breaking monsoon rains and accelerated glacial melt linked to climate change, displaced over 1.5 million people.

    There is worldwide recognition that extreme weather events — not just floods, but drought, heatwaves, tornados and hurricanes — are becoming more frequent and less predictable as the planet warms. These events have devastating and long-term consequences for people in poor regions. 

    Young girls as assets 

    In districts like Jaffarabad and Chowki Jamali, the aftermath of the disaster has left families grappling with deepening poverty, food insecurity and crushing debt. For many, marrying off their young daughters is no longer just a tradition, it’s a form of survival.

    A 2023 survey by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority reported a 15% spike in underage marriages in flood-affected regions. Child rights activists warn that these numbers likely underestimate the scale of the crisis, as most cases go unreported.

    “In flood-hit areas, families are exchanging their daughters to repay loans, buy food or simply reduce the number of mouths to feed,” said Maryam Jamali, a social worker with the Madad Community organization. “We’ve documented girls as young as 12 being married to men in their forties or fifties. This isn’t about tradition anymore, it’s desperation.”

    Bride prices, once a source of negotiation and family prestige, have plummeted due to the economic collapse. Activists report instances where girls are married for as little as 100,000 Pakistani rupees (roughly US$360), or in some cases, simply traded for livestock or debt forgiveness.

    “There are villages where girls are married off like assets being liquidated,” said Sikander Bizenjo, a co-founder of the Balochistan Youth Action Committee. “It’s not just a violation of rights, it’s a systemic failure rooted in climate vulnerability, poverty and legal gaps.”

    Marriage as debt payment

    In Usta Muhammad, another flood-ravaged district, 13-year-old Sumaira (name changed) was married off just weeks after her family’s mud house collapsed. Her parents received 300,000 rupees (a little over $1,000) from the groom’s family, which they used to rebuild their shelter and repay moneylenders. 

    Now pregnant, Sumaira, has dropped out of school and rarely leaves her husband’s house.

    “I miss my friends and school,” she told us softly. “I wanted to become a teacher. But my parents said there was no other way.”

    Child marriages like Shaista’s and Sumaira’s carry lasting consequences: early pregnancies that endanger both mother and child, disrupted education, psychological trauma and lifetime economic dependence. 

    A study following the 2010 floods found maternal mortality rates in some affected regions were as high as 381 per 100,000 live births, one of the highest in the world.

    “These girls are thrust into adult roles before they’re ready,” said Dr. Sameena Khan, a gynecologist in Quetta. “They face dangerous pregnancies, and many have no access to medical care. Their childhood ends the moment they say ‘yes’ or are forced to.”

    Giving girls an alternative to marriage

    The crisis unfolding in Balochistan is not unique. Across the world, climate shocks and civil strife are causing displacement that intensifies the risk of child marriage. 

    In 2024, News Decoder correspondent Katherine Lake Berz interviewed 14-year-old Ola, who nearly became a child bride after her Syrian family, displaced by war and facing severe poverty, began arranging her marriage to an older man. But before that coil happen, Ola was able to enroll in Alsama, a non-governmental organization that provides secondary education to refugee girls. In less than a year, she was reading English at A2 level.

    Alsama, which has more than 900 students across four schools and a waiting list of hundreds, has been able to show girls and their parents that education can offer an alternative path to security and dignity.

    In Balochistan, the absence of legal safeguards compounds the crisis. The Sindh province banned child marriage in 2013 under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act which set the legal age at 18 for both girls and boys. But Balochistan has yet to enact a comparable law. 

    Nationally, Pakistan remains bound by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires nations to end child marriage but enforcement remains patchy. And Pakistan is not one of the 16 countries that have also signed onto the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages, which forbids marriage before a girl reaches puberty and requires complete freedom in the choice of a spouse. 

    Pakistan needs to reform its laws, said human rights lawyer Ali Dayan Hasan. “Without a clear provincial law and mechanisms to enforce it, girls are at the mercy of social pressure and economic collapse,” Hasan said. “We need legal reform that matches the urgency of the climate and humanitarian crises we are facing.”

    Attempts to introduce child marriage laws in Balochistan have repeatedly stalled amid political resistance and lack of awareness. Religious and tribal leaders argue that such laws interfere with cultural norms, while government officials cite limited administrative capacity in rural areas.

    Bringing an end to child marriages

    The solution, experts agree, is multi-pronged: legal reform, economic recovery and access to education.

    “We can’t end child marriage without rebuilding livelihoods,” said Bizenjo. “Families need food, land, healthcare and hope. If they can’t survive, they’ll continue to sacrifice their daughters.”

    Grassroots organizations like Madad and Sujag Sansar provide vocational training, safe shelters and legal awareness sessions in flood-affected areas. In one case, Sujag Sansar intervened to stop the marriage of 10-year-old Mehtab in Sindh, enrolling her in a sewing workshop instead.

    UNICEF estimates that child marriages could increase by 18% in Pakistan due to the 2022 floods, potentially reversing years of progress. The agency is urging governments to integrate child protection into climate adaptation and disaster relief programs.

    “Girls must not be forgotten in climate response plans,” said UNICEF Pakistan’s representative Abdullah Fadil. “Their future cannot be the cost of every flood, every drought, every crisis.”

    Back in Jaffarabad, Shaista now lives with her husband’s family in a two-room house. Her dreams of becoming a doctor have faded, replaced by household chores and looming motherhood. “I wanted to study more,” she said. “But now I have to take care of others.”

    Questions to consider:

    1. How does the marriage of young girls connect to climate change?

    2. How can societies end the practice of child marriage?

    3. Why do you think only 16 countries have signed the UN treaty that requires consent for marriages?

     

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  • On Climate Action, a View From Behind the Pack (opinion)

    On Climate Action, a View From Behind the Pack (opinion)

    The University of California system recently made waves by announcing a commitment “to fully decarbonize no later than 2045.” Unlike many “carbon neutrality” or “net zero” plans that rely heavily on carbon offsets, the UC system plans to cut emissions from campus electricity and fossil fuel use by at least 90 percent from 2019 levels and to balance residual emissions by investing in projects to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

    This win for the climate did not come easy: As activists from UC San Diego relate, they spent years building a coalition across campuses. Such success marks the UC system as a leader in American higher education, well ahead of other prestigious research universities with offset-heavy carbon neutrality plans—and well ahead of Purdue University, where we teach, which has no declared plans for decarbonization.

    Here, we wish to discuss our experiences advocating for a climate action plan at Purdue, where among our peer institutions we are decidedly a laggard, not a leader, in the climate space. We hope that detailing our frustrating lack of success provides a sober counternarrative to the success story of the UC system. Furthermore, we hope that knowing about our efforts may help others who are similarly involved in advocating for climate action at campuses in red states.

    Purdue’s Climate Story So Far

    A public, land-grant university in north-central Indiana, Purdue enrolls more than 44,000 undergraduates and almost 14,000 graduate and professional students. Purdue frequently touts itself as a world leader in innovation of all sorts, from artificial intelligence to biomedical research, even highlighting research on sustainability. Due to its size, the energy-intensive nature of its research activities and its location in a climate that sees both cold winters and hot, humid summers, Purdue’s campus emits as much climate pollution as a small city—439,000 metric tons per year of carbon dioxide equivalent as of 2023, the latest year for which official estimates are available.

    The Purdue community cares about sustainability: Classes in a wide range of majors feature considerable discussion of sustainability, and researchers across campus study the causes of and potential solutions for climate change. Purdue has won awards and recognition for low-hanging fruit, such as from Tree Campus USA and Bee Campus USA. Purdue also touts being named one of the most sustainable campuses by QS, although when one looks under the hood, such rankings give remarkably little weight to emissions reductions on campus. In the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s more rigorous reporting system, Purdue scored zero out of four on clean and renewable energy and 1.08 out of eight on greenhouse gas emissions.

    Purdue faces unique decarbonization challenges. Our university’s administration ultimately answers to the Indiana state government, which has recently canceled the state’s climate action planning and enables most counties to restrict renewable energy development. Electricity in Indiana has the highest carbon intensity of any state other than three major coal producers—Kentucky, West Virginia and Wyoming—and entails almost four times higher greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy than electricity in California. Duke Energy, the utility that serves Purdue, is the fourth largest lobby in Indiana.

    While these challenges may seem daunting, progress on climate is possible even in Indiana. In 2023, our colleagues at Indiana University launched a plan promising carbon neutrality by 2040. They aim to get there by modest changes, such as improving energy efficiency in buildings and implementing renewable energy on campus. Purdue has also made progress—which we applaud—mainly by transitioning its combined heat and power plant from coal to natural gas. In 2023, Purdue estimated that its emissions were 27 percent lower than their coal-heavy 2011 level. But this only represents a small start to the actions needed for Purdue to live up to its obligations to students, staff, faculty, the community and, ultimately, the planet.

    Community Will and Administrative Inaction

    Many Purdue community members want substantial climate action. In 2020, more than 2,000 Purdue students signed a petition calling for Purdue to develop a climate action plan and create a universitywide, stand-alone sustainability office. The university’s president at the time, Mitch Daniels—Indiana’s former Republican governor and a noted climate change skeptic—dismissed the petition.

    In the fall of 2022, students and faculty formed the Purdue Climate Action Collective (PCAC), aimed at pressuring the university to develop a climate action plan and to be transparent in reporting emissions. In the spring of 2023, the Purdue Student Government, the Graduate Student Government and the University Senate each passed resolutions calling on the university to commit to a climate action plan. The Senate resolution also called upon Purdue to join the Greater Lafayette Climate Action Plan, developed by the surrounding county and cities. Once again, Purdue ignored these calls.

    Since then, PCAC has mounted numerous protests, spoken at student events, peppered campus with signs, reached out to the administration and attended Board of Trustees meetings to express our concerns. Our board is entirely appointed by the governor of Indiana. PCAC has also launched a new petition, now at 1,600 signatures.

    Despite the Purdue community’s advocacy for climate action, our new president, Mung Chiang, has authorized no comprehensive, campuswide climate action plan. The nearest thing is the Campus Planning, Architecture and Sustainability office’s Sustainability Master Plan for 2020–25, which aims to reduce Purdue’s emissions from electricity and fossil fuel use 50 percent below 2011 levels by 2025 and to pursue 500 kilowatts of renewable energy. While we applaud these near-term goals, and the incomplete but significant progress toward achieving them, decarbonizing Purdue will require making a long-term plan to outgrow natural gas and Duke Energy’s carbon-intensive electricity.

    On this topic, the Purdue administration told the University Senate in 2024 that “Purdue has a climate action plan consisting of two parts,” referring senators to the Sustainability Master Plan and to a joint study with Duke Energy on the feasibility of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) for the campus. While nuclear might play a role in Purdue’s energy future, SMRs are an unproven technology and should not be used as an excuse to delay the decarbonization of our campus.

    The SMR study’s 2023 report states, “whether SMRs will be an economic option for Duke Energy Indiana’s customers is unknown given current technology, timing and cost uncertainty.” The report cites a likely cost range of $1.1 to $2.25 billion (for context, Purdue’s endowment currently totals $4.1 billion) and discusses design technologies that may only become “commercially viable in 2035–2040.” A responsible climate action plan could certainly include nuclear energy down the road, if it proves successful, but the urgency of the climate crisis demands that institutions address their greenhouse gas emissions now.

    Possible Paths Forward

    Preliminary studies of decarbonization at Purdue suggest that climate action is feasible and affordable. Today, Purdue could take a number of proven, cost-effective actions, such as improving the efficiency of its building operations (for example, by using software to avoid heating or cooling unoccupied spaces), or increasing parking fees and investing the proceeds in infrastructure and incentives for buses and electric vehicle charging. In the next five to 10 years, Purdue could electrify its vehicle fleet and arrange power-purchase agreements with clean electricity generators in the area, as has been done successfully at places like the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota.

    Long-term pathways to deep emission reductions remain uncertain, especially when considering Scope 3 emissions (emissions that are indirectly generated by university activities, such as employee commuting and flying), but Purdue has options and plenty of experts eager to investigate them. Inclusive and transparent processes for climate action planning would draw upon Purdue community expertise to identify, evaluate and select climate action pathways. But for any of this to happen, our administration must first acknowledge the need for climate action on campus.

    Our experience at Purdue has affirmed that fighting for climate action on public red-state campuses is an uphill battle. We know that change must come from both above and below. Students, faculty and staff concerned about the future of our planet must continue to raise their voices and add to the pressure the university feels. Administrators more inclined toward shared governance—or toward maintaining a livable climate for the future generations that Purdue aims to serve—must also add their voices to the mix. As Purdue begins to act on climate, its passionate community of activists and innovators will be there to support implementation and to celebrate accomplishments along the way.

    Although we have much to learn from the success of places like UC, places like Purdue need a different set of tools and approaches. For those at similarly recalcitrant universities, we hope this message reminds them that institutions won’t take these steps without great pressure. But given the dire warnings about the future of our planet, the importance of local climate action as congressional Republicans and the Trump administration have repealed most federal support for climate action, and the important role of universities as thought leaders, we remain convinced that this is a fight worth having.

    Michael Johnston, a professor of English at Purdue University, founded the Purdue Climate Action Collective and has been involved in the fight for climate justice at Purdue since 2022.

    Kevin Kircher, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and, by courtesy, electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, studies clean energy technologies and has worked on campus decarbonization projects at Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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  • Despite the headwinds, universities must keep leading by example on climate change

    Despite the headwinds, universities must keep leading by example on climate change

    Across the road from the south entrance to campus, on a bend in the River Kelvin, sits the University of Glasgow’s climate change secret weapon: the Partick pumping station.

    This at times noisome Edwardian edifice remains a critical part of the city’s wastewater infrastructure, but it also has the potential to provide low-carbon heat for at least some of our 350 buildings. If possible, we will identify a partner, put together a joint venture and start work on a green power initiative in a year or two’s time.

    Carbon reduction solutions like this are manna from heaven for university managers seeking to make good on long-term carbon reduction commitments. Universities are complex institutions with many moving parts – globally connected communities which have grown over time with, for the most part, little thought to environmental sustainability. Consequently, for most UK HEIs, the drive to shrink their carbon footprint represents a significant challenge.

    Backsliding

    There will be those who feel that now is the time to resile from targets set in the halcyon days before Covid, runaway inflation, the cost-of-living crisis, disruption to international recruitment markets and heightened geo-political uncertainty. The Overton window has shifted, goes the argument; we may not agree with President Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” mantra, but with the US ditching green energy and re-embracing fossil fuels, hasn’t the zeitgeist shifted?

    And in any case, can we actually afford net zero? A growing chorus in the mainstream press would say we can’t and shouldn’t go there – at least not while other, less principled countries are backsliding.

    Within the higher education sector, colleagues worry that cutting back carbon will limit mobility, adversely affect our international collaborations and thereby impact on our global reputation. Alongside this, some contend that the financial headwinds are simply too strong, and that preserving jobs should be prioritised ahead of saving the planet. Couldn’t we retain an in-principle commitment to tackling climate change – while quietly paring back our ambitions in line with our straitened circumstances?

    Keeping up the pace

    While these concerns are understandable, the consensus of opinion in the sector is to maintain a focus on carbon reduction. For sure, the biggest difference universities can make is through their academic activities – educating the next generation with the scientific expertise to tackle climate change, raising awareness in the public arena, and undertaking research across an array of disciplines; by contrast, the direct contribution HEIs will make to reducing the world’s carbon footprint is minuscule.

    On the other hand, universities must lead by example if they want to be agents of change. This means setting targets for carbon reduction that, at the very least, match those of other sectors and preferably force the pace a little. For the most part, it has been university-based academics in this country and abroad who have highlighted the existential threat represented by man-made climate change; it would be absurd if the employers of those experts dismissed the knowledge they have generated and ignored one of the most pressing problems facing humanity.

    There is strong encouragement to act from within our own communities. Student opinion is rich and varied, but as a recent poll conducted by Students Organising for Sustainability showed, 79 per cent of UK students report a high level of concern about climate change, while 83 per cent agree that if everyone plays their part, we can lessen the impact on the world. In other words, most students expect action and want their universities to be in the vanguard.

    When we show leadership in this space, students generally think better about their institutions. This leads to a stronger sense of identity with, and belonging to, their places of learning. Student wellbeing is also positively impacted – 90 per cent of students say that anxiety about climate change adversely affects their mental health. Seeing their institutions respond to the crisis and creating practical opportunities for students to participate can alleviate frustration and anger. To quote the charity Student Minds, “students widely expressed a desire to make a positive contribution to tackling climate change but often felt like they didn’t know where to start.”

    This is a key part of our agenda at Glasgow – we want to invoke the active support of the student body through educational courses, campaigns, internships, volunteering opportunities, and a very successful Eco Hub, funded by the university but run by the students themselves. We are also trying to engage colleagues, drawing on a core of enthusiastic staff members and nudging the majority towards greater environmental awareness.

    Glasgow’s approach to net zero is set out in its strategy document, Glasgow Green, published in 2020. It commits the university to being net zero by 2030; the consultants felt the best we could achieve would be a footprint of 37,000tCO2 by the end of the decade, reducing to 32,000tCO2 by 2035, with the balance made up by offsetting. The governing body itself insisted on the 2030 target, seeking to match Glasgow city council’s objective. Making good on that will depend on progress in three key areas – improving energy efficiency on campus, cutting business travel emissions and reducing further our dependence on fossil fuel energy sources.

    The heat

    Which brings us back to our plans for the Partick pumping station. The model is similar to a facility at Toronto western hospital – it involves using thermal energy from wastewater running through the city’s sewers to supply heat. Technology meets public sector partnership meets carbon savings – what’s not to like?

    Of course, as with many initiatives, the devil will be not so much in the detail as in the myriad steps necessary to make it a reality; we will only proceed if we can successfully balance deliverability with carbon reduction and cost considerations. It will not be simple to realise this and the other projects in our energy portfolio, but the reward for success could be implementation of our strategy on schedule, and with a showcase facility which others can learn from.

    A few weeks ago, driving along Sauchiehall Street in the evening, the thermometer hit 28 degrees. In Glasgow. In late August. Climate change is a real thing and the university community is right to be concerned about it. As senior managers, we need to step up and meet the commitments we have made to tackle it; and by doing so, we can show the way to the rest of society.

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  • Higher Education Inquirer : Higher Education and Climate Change: Choppy Waters Ahead

    Higher Education Inquirer : Higher Education and Climate Change: Choppy Waters Ahead

    For years, Higher Education Inquirer (HEI) has documented how the climate crisis intersects with higher education. The evidence shows universities caught between their public claims of sustainability and the realities of financial pressures, risky expansion, and—in some cases—climate denial.

    Bryan Alexander’s Universities on Fire offers a framework for understanding how climate change will affect colleges and universities. He describes scenarios where institutions face not only physical damage from storms, floods, and wildfires, but also declining enrollments, strained budgets, and reputational harm if they continue business as usual.

    HEI’s reporting on Stockton University illustrates this problem. Its Atlantic City campus was celebrated as a forward-looking project, but the site is highly vulnerable to sea-level rise. Projections show more than two feet of water by 2050 and as much as five feet by 2100. Despite this, the university has continued to invest in the property, a decision that raises questions about long-term planning and responsibility.

    The problems are not only physical. HEI has reported on “science-based climate change denial,” where the language of research and inquiry is used to delay or undermine action. This type of denial allows institutions to appear rigorous while, in practice, legitimizing doubt and obstructing necessary changes.

    Even the digital infrastructure of higher education is implicated. Data centers and cloud computing require enormous amounts of water for cooling, a fact made more urgent in drought-stricken regions. HEI has suggested that universities confront their digital footprints by auditing storage, deleting unnecessary data, and questioning whether unlimited cloud use is consistent with sustainability goals.

    The federal safety net is also shrinking. FEMA cuts have reduced disaster relief funding at a time when climate-driven storms and floods are growing more severe. Colleges and universities that once relied on federal recovery dollars are now being forced to absorb more of the financial burden themselves—whether through state appropriations, private insurance, or higher tuition. In practice, this means students and working families will bear much of the cost of rebuilding.

    Meanwhile, contradictions continue to pile up. Camp Mystic, a corporate retreat space that hosts gatherings for university-affiliated leaders, has become a symbol of institutional hypocrisy: universities stage climate conferences and sustainability summits while maintaining financial and cultural ties to industries and donors accelerating the crisis. These contradictions erode trust in higher education’s role as a credible leader on climate.

    Climate disruption does not occur in isolation. HEI’s essay Let’s Pretend We Didn’t See It Coming…Again examined how higher education is entangled with a debt-driven economy vulnerable to collapse. With more than $1.7 trillion in student loans, heavy reliance on speculative finance, and partnerships with debt-financed ventures, universities are already positioned on fragile ground. Climate change adds another layer of instability to institutions already at risk.

    Taken together, these trends describe a sector moving into uncertain waters. Rising seas threaten campuses directly. Digital networks consume scarce resources. FEMA funding is shrinking. Denial masquerades as academic debate. Debt burdens and speculative finance amplify risks. Universities that continue to expand without accounting for these realities may find themselves not only unprepared but complicit in the crisis.

    HEI will continue to investigate these issues, tracking which institutions adapt responsibly and which remain locked in denial and contradiction.

    Sources and Further Reading

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