Green Week: enabling people and communities
Hear from Professor Chris Ennew, Provost, on how far we've come on sustainability as a University and the power of collective action to create change.
"As we move through Green Week, I hope that everyone takes the opportunity to consider one thing, at least, that we might change about our own behaviours. Small changes can add up to a significant impact if we all work together. There are many events and activities to get involved in to inspire and engage.
It’s also a really good moment to take stock of how far we’ve come on our way to sustainable as a University. There are so many highlights – too many to name - but here is a very small sample:
- Research: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a major report on the effects of climate change, who is most vulnerable, and prospects for adaptation to climate change, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. This drew on research by six members of the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) citing research of Dr Morten Fibieger Byskov, Professor Simon Caney, Professor Keith Hyams, and Professor Ed Page on the demands of climate justice and Professor Caroline Kuzemko and Professor Matthew Watson on the political economy of energy.
- Operations: since October 2021, 100% of the electricity we have bought has been from green sources, every new campus building is proving to be more sustainable than the one before and 0% of our general waste now goes to landfill.
- Education: Warwick is embedding sustainability into our Core Skills, which form a key part of the University’s employability strategy, helping Warwick students to recognise how the experiences and knowledge from the Warwick degree translate into transferrable life skills."
Introducing our Environment Sustainability & Social Action Group
Parvez Islam, Director of Environmental Sustainability:
"We've established the Environment Sustainability & Social Action Group (ESSAG), reporting to the University Executive Board, to embed sustainability into our strategic planning and operations on our Way to Sustainable.
ESSAG is comprised of representative stakeholders, from across the University, who will play a key role in making recommendations for continuous improvement, resourcing, and new sustainability programmes, as well as championing a culture of sustainability within our institution.
ESSAG will be responsible for ensuring our work in sustainability research, education, and operations stand up against national and international benchmarks, and as an institution, ensure we continue to lead by example in these areas. ESSAG will also oversee the production of our annual sustainability statement, the University’s annual UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) report and evaluate our performance against our 2030 and 2050 targets, ensuring programmes are adequately resourced and our direction of travel is correct.
On our Way to Sustainable journey, ESSAG will play a critical role."
