Radical Transformation of Universities to Prepare the Next Generation of Climate Champions

The threat and reality of climate change must be acted upon individually and collectively. Universities have a decisive role to play in this regard – by creating the capacity in all its academic activities to lead in taking on the challenge and by graduating students with the capacity to solve the problems that the climate change situation poses. To take on these roles, universities must accept a “radical transformation”. Radical transformation is a process that requires two integrated activities: radical think-ing and transformative action. We propose that it is radical to think of universities as microcosms of society; that is, universities face the same need as everyone else to find ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We also propose that it is transformative for universities to inspire and be agents of change for the world: by creatively developing strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change, universities can become global leaders in demonstrating workable solutions capable of being broadly diffused and scaled up. We present a set of design aspirations that can help universities undergo a radical transformation and thereby make headway in addressing the climate crisis.