Report calls on higher education to sharpen focus on adapting to climate change

A new report on higher education’s role in responding to climate change finds that colleges and universities need to increase their emphasis on adapting to a “new normal.”

“Higher education has taken a leadership role in climate mitigation – that is, preventing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” write the authors of the report "Higher Education’s Role in Adapting to a Changing Climate." Colleges and universities must now take the lead in climate adaptation.

Released Thursday, the report was developed by a group of leaders in higher education and experts in climate adaptation working together as the Higher Education Climate Adaptation Committee. The group was convened by the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in March.

The report provides an overview and a series of examples on what colleges and universities are and should be doing to:

• Teach their students.
• Generate new knowledge.
• Manage risk on their own campus operations.
• And work with their local communities to become more resilient in the face of climate impacts such as extreme weather events and rising seas.

The report highlights adaptation activities on campuses, ranging from the Climate and Society program at Columbia University to the MassGREEN Weatherization Installer Course at Bristol Community College in Massachusetts.  

It also points out that colleges and universities have the opportunity to serve as “hubs” in their communities for testing climate preparedness strategies and sharing knowledge with local leaders.

A pair of Kresge Foundation grantees worked on the project. Second Nature, a Kresge Education Program grantee, was the lead supporting organization. Clean Air-Cool Planet, an Environment program grantee, administered the committee and supported the development of the report. John Nordgren, a senior program officer at Kresge, served on the committee.

Information about the committee and the process of developing the white paper is available at www.acupcc.org/adaptation.