About the Centre for Sustainable Solutions
The climate emergency is the most urgent, complex, and life-threatening issue of our time.
The University of Glasgow has a Climate Change Strategy: Glasgow Green, setting a target of 2030 for carbon neutrality.
The Centre for Sustainable Solutions launched in April 2020. We enable individuals, communities and organisations to act towards a sustainable future through education, research and partnership. We support interdisciplinary, cross-campus and cross-sectoral solutions to climate change.
Monthly Sustainability Spotlight: Every month we're shining a Sustainability Spotlight on significant activities happening here at the university. Get in touch if you would like to be featured or you would like to recommend someone else's work. Keep scrolling down to see this month's Spotlight!
Contact us
- Email: sustainable-solutions@glasgow.ac.uk.
- Campus-wide sustainability: Information on sustainability for UofG's activities, campus and community.
- UofG Sustainability on Twitter: Follow @UofGSustain for updates from across the campus and beyond.
- UofG Sustainability News: UofG staff and students can join our email news list here.
- Staff Sustainability Chat: Staff in all job categories can communicate and collaborate via the internal Sustainability Yammer channel.
Sustainability Spotlight, Aug 2021 - Sustainable Futures Global Network
The University of Glasgow's commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a big part of the overall picture of our ambition to achieve environmentally sound, equitable and just conditions for current and future generations. The Centre already promotes a range of projects funded to address the SDGs, and our co-founder and Associate Director, Dr Mia Perry, is a founder and co-director with Dr Deepa Pullanikkatil of the Sustainable Futures in Africa (SFA) Network, a long-standing and large network of scholars, artists, educators, NGOs and communities with a shared commitment to sustainability challenges as they manifest in very different ways across the world.
For the past five years this network has supported over 100 members in capacity strengthening, training, research, and development through genuine ethical partnerships and friendships. Based on this trajectory some members of the Network are currently engaged in a GCRF Clusters Grant, in a project called Participatory Futures. This project builds on a fundamental but inadequately understood component of all international sustainability research; that of partnerships across vastly different contexts, cultures, and knowledges.
"Despite the increasing affluence and capacity of the Global North, people in the south still suffer disproportionately from disease, poverty, war, famine and climate change. We have come together in recognition that partnerships and participation represent a fundamental but complex component of all GCRF work. We contend that without genuine and equitable partnerships at the foundations of our research, the potential impact, relevance, and sustainability of the research will forever be limited or negated." -- Participatory Futures Project Scope.
Latest News:
The SFA Network is now transitioning to become part of the Sustainable Futures Global Network – with new hubs in Germany, Bangladesh, and India - creating a truly global interdisciplinary collective that is forging new models of cooperation, practice, and multi-stake holder partnerships for sustainability.
Image credit: Photograph of SFA members in Lira, Uganda in 2019, used with permission of the SFA Network.
Sustainability in the College of Arts
The College of Arts community is contributing to environmental sustainability in many creative ways! Check out the links below:
- College of Arts Sustainability Highlights
- Student success: French and History graduate Gavin uses his analytical skills for the energy industry
Photograph courtesy of Xabier Cid, under Creative Commons CC BY-SA.
Sustainability in the College of Science & Engineering
The College of Science and Engineering investigates the history, causes and effects of environmental degradation, discovers practical solutions for sustainability, and works with the University to apply solutions across our campus and beyond. Here are a few tasters of what's happening:
UN Sustainable Development Goals at Glasgow
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
Sustainability in the College of Social Sciences
The contribution that the College of Social Sciences makes toward environmental sustainability and justice covers a fascinating range of research areas, from sustainable consumption, through lifelong learning to empower citizens, to understanding the legal requirements for mitigating climate change, to understanding and using the wealth of complex data available for planning our collective future. Here are some tasters:
Sustainability in the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
The College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences (MVLS) brings a wealth of research expertise to bear on how climate change and environmental degradation affect the human, animal and broader natural world, and how these problems can be solved. Some tasters:
Sustainability in Student Life
Student-led course:
Student groups:
- GUEST: Glasgow University Environmental Sustainability Team
- Green New Deal students
- Glasgow Students Against Climate Change
- Extinction Rebellion Glasgow University
Student successes:
Sustainability on Campus
The University is working hard across all areas of activity to promote our own contribution to environmental sustainability as an organisation, from top-level strategic policy, planning and partnerships, through important day-to-day activities like travel, food, energy supply, student life, and more. See what's happening here.