Universities as exemplars of climate action

In many jurisdictions, strong action from central governments on climate change is lacking, or not rapid enough to fit the timeframe for keeping global temperature rise under the Paris Agreement’s 1. 5°C goal. In these cases, it is often state or local government, organisations or communities that are acting most meaningfully to make the urgent change demanded by SDG 13. Universities are vital hubs of research and teaching on climate change, but as large organisations, they also have significant emissions profiles - contributing to climate crisis. Universities often have the autonomy to make decisions on sustainability and are increasingly doing so, individually and collectively. This chapter looks at global and local university-based climate action initiatives and alliances that attend to the climate impacts of universities as institutions. It considers universities’ carbon accounting, sustainable energy development and use, divestment from fossil fuels, food policies and collective action for achieving zero emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, and to support the SDGs. This chapter argues that only by acting to understand and reduce their own climate impacts can universities be credible climate leaders. The chapter also thinks critically about the role of the neoliberal university in doing this, arguing that universities’ climate action must be authentic and sustained, not deployed for marketing purposes. When university sustainability work is undertaken and perceived in this way, this chapter concludes, it can be an influential exemplar of climate action.