Visionary climate scheme launches on eve of COP26

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The Edinburgh Earth Initiative will act as a focal point for the University’s world-leading teaching and research on climate, and aims to support global partnerships to deliver climate solutions.

It was launched at a reception for local, national and international VIPs in the University’s Playfair Library on Saturday 30 October, the evening before COP26 began in Glasgow.

Key focus

Drawing on the University’s expertise across numerous disciplines, the initiative will focus on the future of energy, sustainable lands and seas, health in a warmer world and socially just transitions.

It will also offer scholarships for students from communities at the greatest risk from climate change, to better investigate ways to combat its effects.

Ambitious targets

The new scheme builds on the University’s record of excellence in research, innovation and education, as well as recent organisational commitments on climate and sustainability

These commitments include the institution’s complete divestment from fossil fuels, and the recently announced multi-million-pound commitment to capture and store more than one million tonnes of unavoidable carbon dioxide emissions.

The University has set itself ambitious targets for making strong and lasting contributions to addressing climate change, including a commitment to becoming net zero by 2040.

The Edinburgh Earth Initiative is founded on the understanding that urgent action is needed to tackle climate change. We must translate our knowledge of everything from policy to proteins and turbines to tundra into managing the impacts of climate change today, alongside continuing to innovate and educate to help mitigate future climate change.

Professor Sandy Tudhope

Related links

Edinburgh Earth Initiative

COP26 and the University of Edinburgh

Social Responsibility and Sustainability