{"id":52594,"date":"2020-06-05T00:22:40","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T07:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=52594"},"modified":"2020-06-05T00:22:40","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T07:22:40","slug":"climate-change-is-the-most-important-mission-for-universities-of-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/climate-change-is-the-most-important-mission-for-universities-of-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change is the most important mission for universities of the 21st century"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Universities are confronting the possibility of\u00a0profound sector-wide transformation<\/a>\u00a0due to the continuing effects of COVID-19. It is prompting much needed debate about what such transformation should look like and what kind of system is in the public interest.<\/p>\n

This is now an urgent conversation. If universities want a say in what the future of higher education will look like, they will need to generate ideas quickly and in a way that attracts wide public support.<\/p>\n

This will involve articulating their unique role as embedded, future-regarding, ethical generators of crucial knowledge and skills, well-equipped to handle coming contingencies and helping others do the same.<\/p>\n

And this means higher education changes are entangled with another major force for transformation \u2013 climate change.<\/p>\n

How can universities credibly claim to be preparing young people for their futures, or to be working with employers, if they do not take into account the kind of world they are helping to bring about?<\/p>\n

A vital role in a climate changed world<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Whether indexed by the continual climb in\u00a0extreme heat and humidity<\/a>, the\u00a0melting of Arctic ice<\/a>, the eruption of\u00a0unprecedented mega-fire events<\/a>\u00a0or the\u00a0rapid degradation of ecosystems<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0disruption of human settlements<\/a>, climate change is here.<\/p>\n

It is rapidly exacerbating environmental and social stress across the globe, as well as directly and indirectly impacting all institutions and areas of life. And worse still, global greenhouse gas concentrations are moving in exactly the opposite direction to what we need, with\u00a0carbon emissions growing by 2.0% in 2019, the fastest growth for seven years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Much-needed transitions towards low carbon and well-adapted systems are emerging. But they are too piecemeal and slow relative to what is needed to avoid large scale\u00a0cascading<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0compounding impacts to our planet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Universities, along with all other parts of our society, will feel the effects of climate change. The cost of the devastation at the Australian National University due to the summer\u2019s fires and hailstorm, for instance, is estimated to\u00a0be A$75 million dollars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Failure to appropriately adapt to the increasing likelihood of such events\u00a0threatens to undermine research of all sorts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether due to climate impacts (such as\u00a0the effects of sea level rise on coastal laboratories<\/a>) or policy and market shifts away from carbon-intensive activities (such as coal powered energy), research investments face the risk of becoming\u00a0stranded assets<\/a>. Not only could expensive infrastructure and equipment be rendered redundant, but certain skills, capabilities and projects could too.<\/p>\n

Universities are key to enabling Australian society to transition to a safer and lower emissions pathway. They are needed to provide the knowledge, skills and technologies for this positive transition. And they are also needed to\u00a0foster the social dialogue and build the broad public mandate<\/a>\u00a0to get there.<\/p>\n

This means old ideas of universities as isolated and values-free zones, and newer notions of them as cheap consultants to the private sector, fundamentally fail to fulfil the role universities now need to play.<\/p>\n

They must become public good, mission-driven organisations devoted to rapidly progressing human understanding and action on the largest threat there has ever been, to what they are taken to represent and advance \u2013 human civilisation.<\/p>\n

Universities must become more sustainable\u2026<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Inaction will erode the trust on which universities rely, especially among the key constituencies universities are meant to serve \u2013 young people and the private, community and public sectors.<\/p>\n

Students<\/a>,\u00a0businesses<\/a>,\u00a0not-for-profit organisations<\/a>\u00a0and certain\u00a0governments<\/a>\u00a0are already acting far more forcefully than universities, even as the latter claim to be intellectual leaders.<\/p>\n

Who universities invest in, fund, partner with and teach, and how, will increasingly be judged through a climate change lens. All actors in the fossil fuel value chain \u2013 including\u00a0insurance brokers<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0researchers<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 are coming under pressure to stop facilitating a form of production that enriches a few while endangering all.<\/p>\n

Networks such as the\u00a0International Universities Climate Alliance<\/a>, the\u00a0Global Alliance of Universities on Climate<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability<\/a>\u00a0are pushing for change in and by the sector.<\/p>\n

In 2019,\u00a0three global university networks organised an open letter<\/a>\u00a0signed by more than 7,000 higher and further education institutions. It called for the sector to reduce emissions and invest in climate change research, teaching and outreach. Even more have signed the\u00a0SDG (sustainable development goals) Accord\u2019s climate emergency declaration<\/a>, which calls for:<\/p>\n