We students can enable the required change to happen. At our universities and college we are privileged with power, networks and resources to impact. It only takes some student to get the ball rolling. You and your friends can do it!

Fridays for Future shows that students quickly can mobilise globally. We students at higher educational institutions, HEIs are now doing the same to foremost make HEIs practice the climate science that they teach us. Them starting a science based transition will send a clear message to the rest of the society about what must be done.

A success story

In the picture above you see a group of Swedish students meeting their country’s national network for higher education institutions’ (HEI) environment and sustainability managers. The message from the students was that we are now mobilising to a national Climate Students movement.

This first meeting gave the managers the support they needed to start a climate framework working group. Halve a year later, 37 HEIs adoped a climate framework in line with the Paris Agreements 1.5 target. At each university and college they are now in the process of implementing it.

The students in the picture started our forerunner the national association Climate Students Sweden, that now has 17 local groups. Read more about how to start up nationally and locally bellow. Contact us in the international board if you have any questions and to get support, email to international@climatestudent.com.

Take national action

Start a Climate Student group in your existing organisation that works with the same or similar issue. Or start up a Climate Student network or organisation if it does not exist one already. Whatever possibilities you have to organise yourselves, these actions are possible for you to do nationally:

• Start up a Climate Students group by reaching out to students in your network at several universities or college that you think are interested in getting involved. Invite them to an information meeting about the possibility to start up. We in the international board can give a presentation if you like.
• Invite national students unions to a climate meeting where you pitch your initiative and have scientists speeches about the climate crisis. Create a national coalition to impact on a national level.
• Have a national social hackathon to generate students ideas and develop a national climate action paper with concrete solutions for country’s HEIs to implement. Contact us in the international board for tools and support.
• Make a national climate action ranking to compare the HEIs with each others.
• Meet with your government’s Ministry of Higher Education to start a dialogue about what changes that must happen in order to ger your country’s HEIs practice the climate science they teach. The Climate Students Sweden have had several meetings with their Ministry leading to a change in the appropriation letter for HEIs.
• Join our international network meetings for strengthen your skills, knowledge, tools, equipment, and other resources needed to push higher education institutions. Read more about our network meetings
  
  

Take local action

At each university or collage there are unique structures and areas to adress. To find out the best way you need to start dialogues with a number of players. In the list bellow you find successful operations on how to do it:

• Start mobilising your resources by inviting your allies, students unions or organisation, environmental managers and researchers to a climate meeting. Share core climate crisis facts, start mapping the areas of your HEIs emissions and plan your actions together.
• Have a social hackathon to generate students ideas and develop a local action paper with concrete solutions for your HEI to implement. Contact us in the international board for tools and support.
• Have a petition with the students unions to show the students’ of your university or college voice. Hand over the signatures to your HEIs presidents and managers during a climate meeting. Also, invite researchers and students unions to give speeches.
• Join Greta Thunberg and the Fridays For Future’s climate strikes on Fridays. Invite researchers and student unions to come with you.

We support you!

Do you want to push your university or college, or your country’s higher education institutions, to help save your future? Are you part of a student group, network or organisation that works with the same or similar target? Do you want to start up Climate Students locally or nationally? Contact us in the international board for support