University of British Columbia

Whole-institute mobilisation around the climate emergency

Institution

University of British Columbia

Region

North America

COuntry

Canada

founding year

1908

student body

72585

Website

Institutional Approach

The University of British Columbia is one of the first universities in the world to both declare a climate emergency, and use this as a central point of action and ethos to organize around. The university has a strong sustainability action plan. They have general climate goals for 2030, a neighbourhood climate action plan for net-zero emissions and climate resilience, a green building action plan for circularity, an integrated stormwater management plan, a separate water action plan for conservation, and a zero-waste action plan. The university has a strong program to encourage interaction with nature in its green areas, and awareness of zero-waste. UBC’s Sustainability Initiative (USI) funds interdisciplinary sustainability research, and works with faculties to embed sustainability in most undergraduate programs. Innovative sustainability educational initiatives include a sustainability “scholars” program as a paid graduate research internship, and a newly-launched transdisciplinary Collaborative PhD for Climate Action.

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