Edinburgh Earth Initiative web launch
October saw the launch of the Edinburgh Earth Initiative website. The initiative, launched in 2021, aims to accelerate the University of Edinburgh’s response to the climate crisis.
The website shares details about the initiative including an implementation plan and news and stories connected to the project.
Visit the Edinburgh Earth Initiative website
About the Edinburgh Earth Initiative (EEI)
EEI supports an inspiring community of academics from across the natural, physical, and social sciences, professional services staff, and students with a range of expertise essential in delivering on the vision of the Earth Initiative.
The catastrophic effects of a changing climate are evident all around us. Our ability to respond depends on global and local partnerships responding at scale and at speed. EEI aims to connect, amplify and act as a catalyst for the University community’s work on climate change.
Knowledge for urgent climate action
The Edinburgh Earth Initiative is accelerating the University of Edinburgh’s response to the climate crisis. Working with our academics, students, staff, and partners, we help ensure the University of Edinburgh is at the leading edge of climate research, teaching, innovation and action.
The vision
A world where our partnerships have made a positive change in the communities most impacted by the global climate emergency.
Mission
To help ensure the University of Edinburgh’s research, teaching, and innovation creates just and positive regeneration for the climate.
History
The Edinburgh Earth Initiative was launched in 2021 to drive a step change in the University of Edinburgh's engagements with global climate and sustainability challenges.
We begin by acknowledging the institution’s history and legacy. First opened to students in 1583, in the 18th century the Scottish Enlightenment established the University of Edinburgh as a global centre of scientific enquiry, technological innovation, and critical thinking. Over the next 200 years, the University of Edinburgh's knowledge and inventions played a crucial role in unlocking fossil fuels as a new energy source – helping to power the industrial revolution and driving the colonial exploitation of natural resources.
Today, sustainability is at the heart of the University’s vision to make the world a better place, and delivering collaborative and impactful projects is a key part of that vision. Edinburgh is among the world’s top institutions for tackling the world’s most pressing environmental and social issues and currently ranks first in the UK and fourth in the world for sustainability (QS World University Rankings for sustainability 2022).
Find out more
Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh
Fellows
An integral part of the Edinburgh Earth Initiative community, Earth Fellows are undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students at the University of Edinburgh who work on impactful, short-term, paid climate, environment and sustainability-related projects and research. The pilot projects of the first nine Earth fellows looked at climate and sustainability at the University of Edinburgh. Their work will help shape the work of the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, helping to ‘join the dots’ across a large institution.
COP27
Staff and Fellows from EEI were part of the group who represented the University of Edinburgh at Cop27 in November 2022 in Eygpt.
Find out more about the University and COP