GEP HE Dialogue Series: Higher Education, Climate Action and the Post-2030 Agenda - Democratic Values, Trust, and Responsibility
The UNESCO Greening Education Partnership Higher Education (GEP HE) is pleased to launch a Thematic Working Group Dialogue Series 2026, titled: Higher Education, Climate Action and the Post-2030 Agenda - Democratic Values, Trust, and Responsibility
Session 1: Universities in the Climate Crisis – Balancing Institutional Action and Scholarly Independence
October 22nd 2026, hosted via GEP HE Zoom: 7.30am to 8,30am EDT/ 7.30pm to 8.30pm Malaysia - Register here
The inaugural Greening Education Partnership (GEP) Higher Education Thematic Work Group Dialogue Series kicks off in 2026 with an important question - What should be the priority areas framing global, regional and national higher education agendas until 2030 and beyond within the context of climate education and climate action? The GEP Higher Education Thematic Work Group looks forward to facilitating this critical discussion ahead of UNESCO World ESD Conference in January 2027 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Discussions from the dialogue series will be developed into a working paper to chart the focus areas of the GEP HE Thematic Working Group until 2030 and beyond, and the development of a policy brief series linked to the GEP global dashboard, in alignment with the vision of the Nairobi Consensus co-create a vision for ESD beyond 2030.
Four Central Questions Framing the 2026 GEP HE Dialogue Series
Framing the context of the dialogue series is the second pillar of the United Nations Academic Impact's Building Sustainable Futures consensus, Democratic Values, Trust, and Responsibility, and the UNESCO Higher Education Roadmap, in which higher education is envisioned as a space for critical inquiry and open, safe dialogue, where academic freedom lets institutions question dominant narratives and generate credible knowledge, and where trust is rebuilt through transparency, integrity, and genuine engagement with society. That framing is broad enough to hold very different global regional and national realities, including that of greening education, inclusivity, youth voices and climate action. It gives each regional convening a shared vocabulary — freedom, trust, and planetary responsibility — while leaving room for each region to define what threatens or strengthens those things locally.
Academic freedom in the post-2030 context. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) cannot function as independent generators of credible knowledge. Regional leads could be asked to surface where academic freedom is currently under the most visible pressure in their context (climate crisis, political interference, funding conditionality, safety of researchers, restrictions on what can be taught or published) and what post-2030 governance mechanisms, be it national, regional, or through UN-linked networks like HESI, IAU, SDSN might protect.
Sustainability as institutional practice. The integration of sustainability and SDG and the call for HEIs to function as "living laboratories" of transformation strengthens the notion that sustainability and climate action does not only belong in higher education curricula, but should be embedded across teaching, research, operations, and institutional culture. Regional convenings could map where sustainability still sits at the margins (a single course or center) versus where it has become infrastructural.
Student movements. Safeguarding youth rights and fostering inclusive education points toward treating student movements as a legitimate channel of institutional accountability rather than a disruption to be contained, particularly in the context of climate change and climate actionA useful regional question: What formal structures (student seats on governance bodies, participatory curriculum review, recognized consultation mechanisms) currently exist versus what is informal or ad hoc, and what would it take to formalize the latter by 2030?
Intersectionality. Inclusion is framed as extending beyond access to participation, representation, and whose knowledge counts. Regional discussions should be pushed to name concrete intersections for climate action rather than treat this abstractly: gender and rural access, indigenous and traditional knowledge systems and formal accreditation, disability and digital learning infrastructure, migration status and academic mobility, class and affordability.
Join the first session 1: October 22nd 2026, hosted via GEP HE Zoom: 7.30am to 8,30am EDT/ 7.30pm to 8.30pm Malaysia
Title: Universities in the Climate Crisis – Balancing Institutional Action and Scholarly Independence
Speakers:
- Radhika Iyengar, Columbia University, USA / Co-Coordinator, GEP HE Thematic Working Group
- Won Jung Byun, Greening Education Partnership, UNESCO Paris
- Charles Hopkins, York University Canada / UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability
- Katrin Kohl, York University Canada / UNESCO Co- Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability
- Muhammed Kiggundu, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Moderators:
- Isabel Toman, International Association of Universities, Paris
- Amber Webb, SDSN