Climate Change and the Canadian Higher Education System: An Institutional Policy Analysis

Abstract

Climate change is a pressing concern. Higher education can address the challenge, but systematic analyses of climate change in education policy are sparse. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by reporting on how Canadian postsecondary educational institutions have engaged with climate change through policy actions. We used descriptive quantitative methods to analyze climate change-specific policies from a representative sample of 50 institutions across Canada and found that nearly half had some form of climate policy. Existing policies were then qualitatively analyzed. We found that the most common form of response focused on the built campus environment, with underdeveloped secondary responses focused on research, curriculum, community engagement, and governance policies. We consider the motivations for such institutional action and end with implications for policy makers and future research.

Comparing education for sustainable development in initial teacher education across four countries

“…In 2012, the Sustainability Education Policy Network (https://sepn.ca/) began a national research collaboration that examines sustainability practices in Canadian K-12 and higher education contexts. This prolific research team has shared findings in relation to many aspects of ESD, including policy, strategic planning, fossil fuel divestment, and climate change education (Bieler and McKenzie, 2017;Henderson et al, 2017;Hargis et al, 2018) Despite the lack of federal governance or policy in ESD, a growing interest in ESD within ITE is translating into innovative practice. A few ITE programmes are fortunate to have sustainability as a core function of their university's strategic plans.…”

“…In 2012, the Sustainability Education Policy Network (https://sepn.ca/) began a national research collaboration that examines sustainability practices in Canadian K-12 and higher education contexts. This prolific research team has shared findings in relation to many aspects of ESD, including policy, strategic planning, fossil fuel divestment and climate change education (Bieler and McKenzie, 2017; Henderson et al , 2017; Hargis et al , 2018), though it has not conducted research into ESD in ITE in a focussed way. SEPN’s research has informed the work of the Environmental and Sustainability Education in Teacher Education (ESE-TE) network (http://eseinfacultiesofed.ca/), an initiative which is dedicated to advancing and supporting the development of high quality ESE in initial and inservice teacher education in Canada through conducting research and professional development and informing policy.…”

La responsabilidad social universitaria frente a los desafíos del cambio climático: hacia una agenda post COVID-19

“…La importancia de promover un campus verde tiene considerable influencia en RSU debido a una serie de razones. Primero se promueve la sustentabilidad y la acción climática dentro del área de la universidad, al mismo tiempo elevando la eficiencia disminuyendo los costos de gestión (Henderson et al, 2017). Segundo, se implementan nuevas tecnologías como energías renovables, transporte limpio y edificios inteligentes y procesamiento de desechos que demuestran su utilidad dentro del campus, llevando a ahorro de energía, disminución de emisiones de gases con efecto invernadero, resiliencia a los impactos de eventos extremos, mismos que luego pueden reproducirse a mayor escala en el entorno universitario.…”

“…En su estudio sobre universidades canadienses Henderson et al (2017) hacen ver que las declaraciones clave de política institucional describen varios objetivos más o menos concretos para reducir la cantidad total de combustible fósil consumido por la institución. Las instituciones han desarrollado planes energéticos con el objetivo de reducir las emisiones totales de dióxido de carbono, incluidas algunas políticas con el objetivo final de lograr la "neutralidad de carbono" o una huella de carbono "neta cero".…”

Shifting Gears: Lessons Learnt From Critical, Collaborative, Self-Reflection on Community-Based Research

“…Universities are the key to healthier, greener, and fairer societies. The role of universities in climate change and sustainable development cannot be achieved without universities' contribution to, and integration between, research, teaching, public awareness, and community engagement (Henderson et al, 2017;Liu & Kitamura, 2019) including the 17 SDGs (Association of Commonwealth Universities [ACU], 2021). As a research team, we decided to undertake climate change research within a community because climate change is widely regarded as being one of the biggest challenges of our time.…”