6 February 2020

Students at UCPH fight for the climate

Student Engagement

Talks, debates, climate strikes and demands for the headmastership. Students at UCPH in the fight for the climate – both at the university and in society.

On Friday 20th of September Studenterrådet and seven green organizations presented five "climate demands" to pro-rector Bente Stallknecht. 1733 students signed the demands. The demands is a tentative culmination of a green movement that has spread across the university. IMCC Earth, RHEA and Green Impact are some of the organizations that have emerged during the past years. Theology is the only faculty that does not have its own green student organization. The organizations organize climate strikes and talks on sustainability and climate change. Recently Casus Klima from the Faculty of Law and SIMA from Faculty of Social Science invited former chair of the UN General Assembly Mogen Lykketoft to give a talk on the Sustainable Development Goals.

On the 15th of March the green organizations organized a climate strike with talks and a clothes swap-market. The talks and lectures gives perspectives that goes beyond the university.

The conditions at the university are debated as well. In September, Studenterhuset hosted a debate on how to make the University of Copenhagen more sustainable. Thirty students, a professor, a head of department and the green organizations discussed the role of the university in battling climate change. The panel advised the students to keep fighting on all fronts simply because it makes a difference.