Climate focus at all levels – SDU’s climate plan is well on its way

World leaders recently set the direction for the coming years’ international climate policy at COP26 in Glasgow. Despite the summit’s clear plan to keep the 1.5 degree target from the Paris Agreement alive, the sustainable transition is still worryingly slow, and globally, CO ₂ emissions remain too high.

Right now almost 40 gigatonnes of CO₂ are emitted per year globally, and 1,000 gigatonnes of CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere will cause a temperature increase of 0.45 degrees. The staggering facts in the climate debate are often difficult to comprehend, but in short, it means that to stay within a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees, only a total amount of maximum 300-400 gigatonnes of CO₂ per year can be emitted. So, we can only continue to emit CO ₂ the way we do today for 7-10 years.

Willingness to act

As the UN Climate Panel’s sixth assessment report presented in that report, research now shows that the global average temperature already at the beginning of the next decade will exceed the 1.5 degrees that the world needs to stay below to avoid the worst climate impacts in terms of cloudbursts, floods, drought etc.

Efficient and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed, and solving this task is a matter of urgency, both at a global, national and local level. The positive thing is that temperature increases can still be limited if there is courage and the will to act.

SDU is ready for action. Since 2019 the university have worked strategically on all of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and through free, independent and critical research and education, we will contribute to the sustainable transition of our society, and work on sustainability on many different levels.

A climate plan is ready

Therefore, sustainability is today part of the university’s research, innovation, education programmes and daily operation. Within the climate field, the university’s researchers contribute to the development of, for example, climate-friendly fuels, intelligent energy management systems, sustainable product development, methods for life cycle analyses and understanding human behaviour.

And as a university with approx. 27,000 students and 3,400 employees across six campuses, it is important to limit the university’s emissions in line with what is deemed necessary by research.

Therefore, the Rectorate and I are very pleased soon to be able to present SDU’s first climate plan to our Board, where SDU will set a target of reducing our CO₂ emissions by up to 57 per cent – compared to 2018 – by 2030, which corresponds to the Danish national target of a 70 percent reduction in 2030.

Inclusive process

The climate plan has been created after a thorough and inclusive process at the university. During the autumn, six workshops were conducted with students and staff from all campuses, and there were contributions from and a workshop with an expert group of approx. 30 researchers, experts (from the Central Administration) and students as well as dialogues in the University Council, the Central Liaison Committee (HSU), the Administration Liaison Committee (ASU) and De Studerende i Centrum (DSIC). Thanks to everyone who contributed and made their special knowledge available for working on the climate plan.

Read more about the work on the climate plan.

In this context, I am also pleased that SDU is leading by a good climate example, so that the laboratories at the Department of Molecular Medicine and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology – as the first laboratories in Denmark – have recently obtained the prestigious sustainability certification from Green Lab.

Remember the climate locally

At the very COP26, SDU also played a prominent role by presenting new and very relevant knowledge about the sustainability of cities and their resilience in relation to climate change. The cities’ efforts are absolutely crucial to actually be able to implement the climate agreements adopted by the world governments as most of the global CO₂ emissions come from the world’s cities.

That insight is also important to bring to the negotiations when new municipal and city councils are established in Denmark in the near future in the 98 municipalities after the local elections on 16 November. Many things must also be solved locally to reach the global goals.

Both as a world community, a country and a local community, major climate challenges are towering up and must be solved, and SDU is ready to contribute with the solutions that are needed at all levels.

Science to the table

Science has to be brought to the table to give a better understanding of how the climate is changing, a better understanding of the consequences of a changing climate, and a better understanding of how to adapt to and mitigate some of the impacts of climate change. Therefore, we in the Rectorate look forward to opening the doors to SDU’s new climate centre next year, where we will reach out to politicians, organisations and the business community – and to all five faculties at SDU – so that excellent climate research and education and concrete climate solutions can flourish in society – for the benefit of the climate and the public debate.

A sustainable world requires a sustainable effort, and SDU accept our share of the responsibility for addressing the huge climate issue.