Go to the Swedish version of this page

Do you want to know more?

Read our press release (in Swedish) – Students rank universities according to their climate action

You will find more information in our report where we go into detail on how we made the ranking

Why have we made this ranking?

Climate Students believe that universities have a unique role, both symbolically and practically, in realizing the climate transition in society. Symbolically, by acting on the research they themselves produce – by practice what they teach. Practical – by being politically and religiously independent institutions without profit requirements enriched with enormous knowledge and skills and with the stated mission to educate, research and collaborate.

In 2019, the Swedish government tightened the requirements for higher education institutions’ work to promote sustainable development and to reduce their own direct, negative impact on the environment, including greenhouse gas emissions. During the same year, 37 higher education institutions signed the Climate Framework for Universities, which states that higher education institutions’ emissions by 2030 must be in line with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree target. However, there is no body that will follow up the higher education institutions on their commitments within the Climate Framework – apart from the Climate Students.

Two things that motivate higher education institutions are rankings and application pressure. We want the universities to understand that future application pressure can be affected by how they work with their own direct emissions, by making a ranking based on just this! Generation Greta, which took to the streets in 2018/2019, will in the coming years apply to universities. Just as the French student manifesto communicated to companies that they did not want to work for those who do not contribute to the transition, we want to communicate to the higher education institutions that students in future will not apply to universities that do not live as they teach.