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The term climate emergency<\/em> has been used recently by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres<\/a> and his Climate Change Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa<\/a>. Both have used the term in the context of the need to reverse the still rising trend in global greenhouse gas emissions and the need to cut these emissions by 45% by 2030. Without such action, climate science tells us, the target of constraining global warming to within a 1.5 degrees temperature rise above pre-industrial levels, necessary to avoid dangerous climate change, cannot be met. If it is to be met, political and economic decisions that will reverse the directionality of the current global fossil dependent economy need to have been taken by 2020. Hence emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The University\u2019s climate emergency declaration\nrecognises this situation. But it does\nmore than that. It also recognises that the University is itself implicated in\nthe emergency and must act to take remedial action. That action should be\nconsistent with its declaration and with its societal role as a centre of\nexpertise and thought leadership on global climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its declaration statement<\/a>, the University highlights that it has: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally the declaration statement promises that: <\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the foregoing activities are to be commended\nand they are surely consistent with those of an institution that takes climate\nchange seriously, possibly very seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But none of these actions, nor stated intentions\nare consistent with the notion of emergency. Where is the immediate decisive\naction, the sudden shift in priorities that would constitute a response to a\nreal emergency?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think for a moment a little more about climate\nemergency. For the UN\u2019s Patricia Espinosa, we are\nconfronted with \u201cthe fight of our lives\u201d to ward off the existential threat.\nSir David King, the former UK Chief Scientist has described global climate\nchange as \u201cthe greatest threat, not of\nour time, but of all time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In that spirit, is the University doing enough?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the principle \u201cset your own house in\norder\u201d, <\/em>the University should immediately turn itself into a living\nlaboratory for the study and practice of implementing ultra-rapid, total\ninstitutional transformation to a planetary benign, socially benign and post\ncarbon status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now this is a very tall order, but it is\ncommensurate with the University\u2019s societal role as well as its declaration. It\nneeds to demonstrate that total institutional transformation is a deliverable\nreality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two keys to kick start and then progress\nrapid successful institutional change. The first is to signal that fundamental\nchange is coming, indeed that it is already under way and that aspirational\ngoals are already in place. The second is to engage everyone, academic and non-academic\nstaff, and students of course, in the process so that the transformations\nbelong to the people who are instigating them, who are also the same people who\nwill be affected by them. In this dual key approach, both keys need to be\nturned at the same time. Not easily done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now a couple of words of caution. First: the\nUniversity needs to apply its emergency transformation to every<\/em> aspect\nof its operations. It is so easy to shut one\u2019s eyes to the parts of the\noperation that one would really rather not look at. In the case of Sussex this\nis probably the business model, which is currently one of expansion and growth,\nparticularly the growth of its foreign student population. Arguably, the\nbusiness model, like those of other leading UK Universities, is based on air\nmiles clocked up by internationally travelling students, and of course academic\nstaff attending conferences or conducting research in far flung corners of the\nglobe. This supply chain is central to the University\u2019s product output – graduates\nand academic research. But it needs to be addressed and brought under the\nauspices of a climate emergency transformation. The introduction of online\ndistance learning within the University\u2019s new MSc degrees in Sustainable\nDevelopment and Energy Policy is a step in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, and arguably far more difficult for any\nacademic institution to find a generally agreed position on: the University\nneeds to take account of how its current teaching, research and academic\npublishing requirements lend support to societal structures and values that are\ninimical to global climate emergency. It needs to identify and address these\ninconsistencies so that the entirety of its institutional output is aligned\nbehind its declaration of climate emergency and its commitment to\ntransformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps the University\u2019s Sustainability Committee\nhas just such a panoply of emergency response activities in mind. Perhaps, if I\ntry to drive my car onto the University campus I\u2019ll be greeted by a notice that\nsays: climate emergency<\/em>: electric vehicles only <\/em>and I\u2019ll be\nturned away. Perhaps if I apply to be part of the team to attend the next\nConference of the Parties to the UN FCCC, I\u2019ll be turned down because the\nUniversity has sent its apologies to the organisers declaring that no one will\nbe flying from Sussex to Santiago this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Words are easy, but words are also very dangerous. To declare a climate emergency and then fall short on follow through makes the declaration an empty gesture. It would provide others with a dangerous precedent. As a world-recognised centre of excellence on sustainability issues, it is beholden on Sussex to lead by example and set a very high bar by way of response to its own declaration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nick Gallie<\/em><\/a> is an Associate Researcher at SPRU and at the Sussex Centre for the Study of Rights and Justice (SCSRJ) at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex.<\/em><\/p>\nFollow Sussex Energy Group The University of Sussex\u2019s recent declaration of a climate emergency will be welcomed by many. But what emergency action is the University taking to back up its declaration? Climate emergency First, the term emergency. We all know what it means.…<\/span><\/p>\nThe Sussex declaration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Emergency action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A declaration of sincerity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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