About us - FAQ

Where does this initiative come from?

The group behind the call for a climate action plan for the University of Antwerp is a heterogeneous group of UAntwerp colleagues from different faculties, statutes, and campuses. We found each other snowball-wise in the shared conviction that the University of Antwerp as an innovative knowledge institution can and should play a exemplary role in the upcoming transition to a zero-carbon economy and society. 

A climate action plan creates a roadmap for the medium term, while at the same time getting us moving today. We believe that a collaboratively created and widely shared Climate Action Plan is a necessary tool to combat climate change at an institutional level.

 This Climate Action Plan creates a cohesive narrative for all of the University's climate-related initiatives, and it provides predictability to the timing and actions that will be required to move toward carbon neutrality.

 By working as a team, we connect the multitude of initiatives: any student or staff member who wants to change something can connect to the bigger picture. The UAntwerp Climate Team forms an arena to experiment with new climate measures, technologies, financial mechanisms, behavioral change and communication.

 This creates tremendous potential for research, education and societal services. Both researchers and students can leverage the Climate Team community for their climate-related research, while also supporting the Climate Action Plan with insights, data and ideas. Students can develop their professional skills and sustainability competencies by participating in. Projects in the fields of energy, transport, food, water, etc. simultaneously have a spill-over effect for the wider society, from the city of Antwerp to Belgium, Europe or the world. We therefore collaborate with different stakeholders: the City of Antwerp, the Port of Antwerp or another AUHA institute. For example, the University of Antwerp also plays an important role in the climate resilience of the Antwerp environment.

The various working groups have undertaken many successful initiatives and a great deal of progress has been made in some areas. However, in order to achieve our ambitious targets in line with the Paris Agreement, there are still unfulfilled preconditions that are needed to maximize the positive climate impact of UAntwerpen. These are mainly governance aspects from Chapter 12 of the Climate Action Plan.
We put forward 3 priorities that we believe are necessary to remain on track:

1. Formal anchoring and embedding of the climate strategy in the higher decision-making bodies of UAntwerpen. Many bottom-up initiatives seep through and are successful, but climate action not on top of the agenda of the main decision-making bodies.
2. Transparent communication, reporting and monitoring of actions taken, planned actions and their (intended) impact on the university-wide ecological footprint. This both internally and externally based on science-based targets. So far, there has been no follow-up on the annual monitoring of the university's ecological footprint after the baseline measurement in 2019 due to lack of capacity. This also means that no internal or external reporting has happened, so we cannot determine whether we are doing well or not. We are sailing blind. Thus, it is difficult to make strategic funding decisions towards the future.
3. Developing a long-term vision and action plan around energy and climate investment in consultation with the whole university community and based on the expertise present within the university and values of climate justice. We will be working on this in the thematic working groups and at the climate festival in April. 

Off course, the Covid-19 pandemic has made many actions difficult. This is true both for the mobilization of volunteers in the working groups and for the university administration.

From 2022 onwards we will make a new start for putting climate action back at the top of the agenda.

• October 2018: the idea was first discussed some researchers from the faculties of law and social sciences. They probed some colleagues about their interest to participate and quickly received positive responses from colleagues in all faculties. We met for the first time in October (18 attendees) and organized an open brainstorm during climate week in November (with 55 attendees).
• November 2019: a core team was established. The first working groups started to work around Waste, Transport and Nature Management. A temporary working group looked at already existing climate plans, and another on the baseline measurement of greenhouse gases (measuring current emissions in detail) at the entire UAntwerpen.
• December 2018: in collaboration with the University's Environmental Department, the baseline measurement of all climate impacts of the University was started in collaboration with the consulting firm Ecolife.
• December 21, 2018: As the network of active and passive support for a climate action plan continued to expand, we had a first meeting with the Rector and the General Administrator, who support the initiative.
• January 2019: The Department of Communications is on board to shape and follow up on communications around the Climate Action Plan. As a first, we are working together for a university-wide call to action.
• February 13-28, 2019: Over 290 staff and students signed up to be part of various working groups.
• May 2019: We hired a climate coordinator with funding from the Department of Education
• March-August 2019: Working groups create an initial comprehensive mapping of where we are as a university on the various themes.
• September 2019: The baseline measurement of the university's C02 impact is published.
• October-November 2019: The College of Deans and the Executive Council approve the Climate Action Plan.
• November 2019: The first Climate Action Plan is published during Climate Week.
• 2020-2021: Despite the COVID pandemic, several working groups continue to propose and develop actions. Check each theme for an update.
• February 2022: A new call to strengthen the Climate Team working groups and put ambitious climate action back on the agenda.
  
• December 2022: Updated Climate Action Plan was presented at the Board of Governors. All goals were approved. 

We are working in a decentralized but harmonized way.

The body of the climate plan consists of thematic working groups: they cover the most important domains through which our University impacts the climate.

Apart from these, a couple of more management-oriented working groups do what’s necessary to actually realise the Climate Action Plan (Core Team; Communication; Finance; Research & Education). All working groups are tied together by the plenary sessions.

The common channels and platforms for communication and collaboration are TEAMS, a newsletter and the different meetings.

By harmonizing the way we work, we lower the barriers for new enthusiasts to join, and for ourselves and each other to tune in to the other WGs and see the big picture. We believe this ultimately makes us collaborate better.

The core team tries to guard the process, organises the plenary meetings and functions as a tie to knot everything together.

The core team meetings and mailing are open to anyone who likes to contribute, do tell us if you’re interested.

UAntwerp management indeed has to be involved in many domains. In fact, they are very engaged and try their utmost best. Yet, the transition-exercise goes much broader than just technicality, it is also changing behaviour, education and ways of working. In the end: it is about changing our work and study environment for the better.

The creative capacity of the sum of us, a high diversity of people with different backgrounds brought together, is much higher than that of any single super-schooled technician. Our ideas will be better, and we can realize much more.

Finally, high involvement from people across all parts of the university increases our visibility and weight, strengthening support for thoroughly sustainable investment and policy choices from the University’s management.

This is a choice you make for yourself. Participating in a WG will require a meeting every four to six weeks, and some preparation and after-work. During a specific action peek, this might be higher. At all times, you decide on your availability. However, make sure you always clearly communicate it to team members. 

With many people offering a couple of hours per month, we can go a long way.