“This is above all an emergency and not just any emergency. This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced.” — Greta Thunberg at R20 Austrian World Summit, Vienna, May 2019
Updated 16 September 2019
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In advance of the Secretary General’s Climate Summit on September 23, and gearing up for the COP25 event in Chile 2–13 December 2019, Higher Education networks and institutions are coming together to add their support to a Climate Emergency declaration letter that will be shared with key government officials and the media in advance of COP25.
Coordinated by the SDG Accord, the call for declaring a Climate Emergency by Higher Education institutions and networks has been signed by 163 institutions representing more than 2,736,000 students and 45 networks representing over 8411 institutions (as of 16 September).
As well as the GRLI, founding co-signers include the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI), Global Alliance, and EAUC — The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education.
Globally as of 16 September 2019, there are Climate Emergency declarations in 1,008 jurisdictions and local governments covering 224 million citizens. At the national level, these include the Welsh Government, the First Minister of Scotland, the Irish government, a non-binding declaration from the British House of Commons, the Parliament of Portugal, and the Canadian House of Commons.
In July 2019, this effort’s strong beginnings were covered by the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and others.
This article first appeared in the July 2019 GRLI Newsletter and is updated monthly.
