Climate Students Movement critical of the University’s environmental work

Uppsala University’s current environmental plan is a three-year plan that will expire at the end of the year. Pending a new three-year plan, it has been decided to temporarily revise the current one. A new three-year plan is not expected to come into effect until 2026.

The fact that there will be a whole year’s gap between these three-year plans has been met with criticism by the Climate Students Movement. Asta Dahlqvist, who is chair of the Climate Students Movement in Uppsala, does not feel that Uppsala University has invested enough resources in its environmental work.

“The environmental plan must be updated every three years. Which should have been this year, but instead updating the plan has been postponed and the expiring plan will be replaced by a temporary, one-year plan based on the old plan with some small edits. Much more than that is needed for the University to reduce their emissions,” says Asta Dahlqvist.

She is also critical of the fact that the Climate Students Movement and other actors will not be afforded the opportunity to comment on the plan because it is temporary and thus will not undergo the usual consultation rounds.

The Climate Students Movement has produced and presented its own plan for how the University should be working to reduce emissions. In that plan, for example, they propose that journeys that take less than 24 hours should be made by train and that the University should only buy in plant-based foods.

“We are in the midst of a climate crisis, which is why our mantra is ‘practice what you teach’. This knowledge exists and is being taught at the University. They are teaching tomorrow’s leaders and decision-makers. But they can’t even set significant targets for reducing their own emissions. So why should anyone else care?”

Waiting on a new environmental review in 2025

Head of the Unit for Environment and Physical Work Environment Annika Sundås Larsson does not agree that the University’s environmental work has been postponed because the existing plan is going to be revised. The reason for not producing a new three-year plan yet is that the University is waiting on an environmental review, which will be carried out in 2025.

“The environmental review will then form the basis for how we should work three years into the future. If we had made a new three-year plan this year, we would have had to base it on an outdated environmental review,” says Annika Sundås Larsson.

And the reason why it’s been decided not to circulate the temporary plan for comment is to save on resources. It takes a lot of time to draft comments and to compile the comments according to Annika Sundås Larsson. That means a significant number of hours.

“It’s better to put that effort into the next three-year plan. When we produce that plan, it will be subject to the usual consultation process. The revised plan will be established by the Vice-Chancellor and, as always, there will be student representation in the drafting of and the final Vice-Chancellor’s decision.”

One of the Climate Students Movement’s proposals is that the University should only buy in plant-based foods. What do you think about that proposal?

“There are already divisions and departments that have their own policies regarding plant-based foods, which we encourage and are very glad to see. Today there is no University-wide policy, but the Staff Gateway includes environmental tips for catering and for food orders. We have to wait and see what the environmental review