Climate crisis: many universities have no target date to cut emissions to net zero

Over the past 15 years, UCC has reduced its energy use by 27%, a spokesman said. Picture: Denis Minihane

Almost half of universities worldwide committed to taking climate action have yet to set a target date to reach net-zero emissions.

That’s according to a new report from Times Higher Education (THE) published on Thursday, looking at how universities are performing in the race to net-zero emissions.

The study also suggests that few universities include international student flights in their calculations, which could be seen as a major contributor to the sector’s emissions.

The report found universities in Australia and New Zealand tend to be leading the way in their commitment to net-zero, while European and American institutions tend to be lagging behind.

No Irish universities are named directly in the report, which looked at data under THE impact rankings for 2021, which use the UN’s sustainable development goals as a framework for assessing how universities are tackling global problems.

UCC ranked eighth in world

University College Cork (UCC) was ranked eighth in the world under these rankings published earlier this year. In total, four Irish universities achieved eight top 10 positions.

A UCC spokesman said it was too soon publish its next climate action plan, mapping how the university will achieve a 51% reduction in absolute CO2 emissions by 2030 in line with Government targets. Over the past 15 years, UCC has reduced its energy use by 27%, he added. 

“UCC has also signed up to the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] Race to Zero campaign, committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. UCC was the first university in Ireland to divest from fossil fuels and is a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Investment.”

Dublin City University (DCU) has also recently launched a plan to make radical changes to current practices in order to reach "zero carbon" targets, a spokeswoman for the university said. 

"Curriculum restructure, sustainability-focused research and establishing science-based carbon reduction targets for university campus operations to reduce its environmental impact are among some of the near-term actions set out in the plan. 

"DCU will identify and implement all measures to reduce its carbon footprint; measure its environmental impact and publish an annual carbon footprint, and support its staff and students to identify their own personal carbon footprints." 

The report recommends that the global higher-education sector creates an agreed framework for measuring emissions from international student travel and sets absolute zero emissions targets as well as net-zero targets. Among the institutions that do have a target, most (71%) said they planned to reach net-zero within the next 20 years.