Abstract
The climate and ecological emergency are prompting institutions and collectivities to examine their own environmental impacts and consider the responsibilities they have in contributing to a system-wide transformation towards sustainability. Universities are one institution facing this challenge.
This research investigates how the eight university institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand are responding to climate change. It looks at both the hard, measurable actions that universities are taking to reduce emissions and environmental impacts, and the soft, value led actions connected to cultural and social change. Recognizing that climate change requires a system wide transformation, the research goes on to critically analyze to what extent the responses can be considered transformational. The research employs a mixed methods approach informed by feminist geography and involves a detailed analysis of the documentation that universities have produced in relation to climate change, supported by a critical discourse analysis, and interviews with key actors involved in universities’ climate change response.
It has found that all universities in Aotearoa New Zealand are mobilizing in response to climate change. They have set targets for emissions reduction, developed plans, and have work programs underway. Their targets are not limited to decarbonization, but include ambitions to embed sustainability values across teaching, research and campus life. However, their response has limited transformational potential as the primary discourses’ universities employ to discuss climate change function to boost institutional reputations and promote a weak conception of sustainability that provides reassurance that a trajectory of positive change is underway. Universities are further constrained by the impacts of neoliberalism and their need to financially survive within an unsustainable economic paradigm. Nevertheless, there are points of transformational potential. These include strong discursive links between sustainability and indigenous justice, and widespread support and passion within institutions to address climate change concerns.