The Euromed University Initiative for Climate Action, launched in 2025 by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and UNIMED – Mediterranean Universities Union, aims at strengthening climate education and action in higher education across the Euro-Mediterranean region.
So far, over 100 higher education and research institutions have joined the initiative by endorsing the Girona Manifesto, a shared commitment developed around 4 pillars:
- Advance Regional Cooperation in Climate Education
- Make Climate Education a Curricular Baseline
- Include Students in Climate Governance and Action
- Support Innovation Smart Hubs
To implement the first two priorities, namely mapping the existing climate-related academic offer and developing curriculum guidelines to regionally standardise tertiary climate education, the UfM has entrusted UNIMED with a technical assistance. With the scientific support of Prof. Adil Salhi (Abdelmalek Essaâdi University, Morocco) and the University of Girona, Spain, co-coordinators of the UNIMED Subnetwork on Climate and Environmental Change, we are currently working on: regional mapping of climate-related academic programmes, built through desk review, a standardised survey and targeted interviews, and published as a searchable digital inventory and platform before COP31; curriculum guidelines to support universities in embedding climate education in their curricula; a Master Class for academic leaders, programme directors and faculty deans, translating the mapping and guidelines into institutional practice; two events at UNFCCC COP31 in Antalya, presenting the project’s findings and the next steps of the Girona Manifesto community.
Within this framework, we kindly invite your institution to take part in the mapping by completing our institutional survey, available in English and French here. It takes around 30 minutes and is open until 30 October 2026.
All information on the survey can be found here.
Each institution is asked to submit a single response reflecting its official position, consolidated through internal consultation with the relevant offices, services and departments. To ease the internal consultation, you can find here the Word and here the PDF version of the survey.
All higher education and research institutions based in a UfM member or observer state can contribute to the survey, whether or not they have endorsed the Girona Manifesto. The analysis of the answers collected will enrich an inventory of climate-related academic programmes offered across the Euro-Mediterranean region, delivered as a digital publication and a digital platform which will be available soon. To produce a broad and comprehensive mapping exercise, we would also be very grateful if you could help us in disseminating the survey, by sharing it with other institutions and networks in the region you are cooperating with.
For any questions, please contact Nathalie Clauter (n.clauter@uni-med.net) and Paola Romano (p.romano@uni-med.net). Kindly note that IAU is not involved in the survey.