The UvA had to think a little bit, but has now signed the climate manifesto
The UvA has also signed the climate manifesto of the Green Young Academy (GrYA). Nine institutions have now signed the manifesto, which calls on knowledge institutions to pursue a more ambitious climate policy.
It took a while, but just under a month later, the UvA has also signed the Green Young Academy (GrYA) climate manifesto. With this signature, the UvA commits to taking concrete action in the areas of sustainability in education, research, operations and governance.
This means, among other things, that the UvA will incorporate sustainability into all its curricula, invest in research that contributes concretely to a climate-neutral society, and appoint sustainability coordinators for the longer term. The university will also report on the sustainability progress of universities and university medical centres in collaboration with The Young Academy (DJA).
Acting in the spirit of the manifesto
The UvA did not sign the manifesto immediately. That was not necessary, writes UvA sustainability policy officer Ewout Doorman. “There was room to agree on deviations from the manifesto and to act in the spirit of the manifesto.”
The UvA’s climate goals, which are laid down in the White Paper on Sustainability, are formulated differently in some respects than in the manifesto. The UvA writes in a news item that, in consultation with the organisers, the points on which the UvA wishes to deviate from the manifesto have proved to be acceptable. According to UvA Vice-President Richard Goldstein, the climate manifesto fits in with a development in which “knowledge institutions operate and report on sustainability more collectively and in the same way, while also leaving room for their own interpretation”.
The climate manifesto stems from the report Dertien Tinten Groen (Thirteen Shades of Green), which was published in early November. In that report, the GrYA examined the sustainability plans of thirteen Dutch universities and seven university medical centres. This resulted in five recommendations, including that Dutch universities and university medical centres should be more ambitious in their climate policy than required by Dutch climate legislation.
Signed nine times
Rogier Kievit, project leader of the Green Young Academy (GrYA), is pleased with the progress of the signing. “It shows that we are really raising the bar with the manifesto. Executive boards have to consider how to implement the specific goals in their own organisations and came back with questions. And a large group has already decided to commit to it.”
According to DJA, seven institutions have signed the manifesto. These are Utrecht University, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Twente, Maastricht University, Leiden University, Amsterdam UMC, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academy of Arts, and now also the University of Amsterdam.
*Earlier in this article, it was stated that seven institutions had signed the manifesto. This is incorrect; there are nine.
