The Australian National University (ANU) has become one of the first universities in Australia and the world to commit to reducing greenhouse emissions to below zero by 2030.
Vice-Chancellor of ANU, Brian Schmidt said the university’s new initiative, ANU Below Zero Initiative, would see it reduce emissions and offset any it couldn’t avoid.
“We are committed to not only reducing and off-setting our emissions, but also taking more carbon out of the atmosphere than we put in,” Professor Schmidt said.
“Climate change is already here; the past decade includes nine of the 10 hottest years on record around the world – 2019 was Australia’s hottest year ever,” he said.
“Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to zero as soon as possible is essential, but this alone won’t be enough to meet our global goals.”
Professor Schmidt said the Initiative took a local, national and international approach to action on climate change.
The Vice-Chancellor said ANU had also set an interim target of net-zero emissions by 2025, as a stepping stone to achieving its negative emissions goal.
Director of the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions and Lead of the Initiative, Mark Howden said the ANU community would be involved in helping achieve the targets, particularly through research and teaching.
“By 2030, the goal is for ANU to achieve below-zero emissions for energy, waste, business travel and direct on-campus greenhouse gas emissions, and we will only use carbon offsets that have a research and teaching connection at the University,” Professor Howden said.
He said meeting the below-zero target would require organisational and behavioural change throughout the University, both at an institutional and individual level.
