News
Personal responsibility for emissions No mandatory climate transition, but a system based on flexibility and personal responsibility. That is the right way to go, says Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor Mette Sandoff, who is also Chair of the working group for the Climate Framework. What is new is that all emissions are counted, not just air travel. You have backed away from the proposal to introduce climate transition centrally and have given the faculties the mandate to decide for themselves how to achieve the Climate Framework's goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent by 2030, compared with 2019 levels. Why did you abandon the concept of a climate transition? – There wasn’t enough sup-
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GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER 2021
port for it. The working group had extensive discussions with the various operations during the spring, through a number of workshops, discussions at strategy meetings and several meetings with deans and heads of department. The clear message was that they wanted to take responsibility themselves for their carbon dioxide reduction measures for all types of emission areas, instead of being guided by a model that only focuses on air travel. Our idea is to give the operations clear mandates that are based on personal responsibility and the opportunity to influence the situation. It is also in line with how we normally govern the University of Gothenburg, for example when it comes to work on quality. In the long run, a system that enables influence and responsibility is more likely to lead to a change in behaviour.
So what can you do at an overarching level to support the organisation? – At the central level, it is about supporting, encouraging and following up, and spreading best practice. The Faculty of Social Sciences, for example, already has a plan for how to work with this issue, while others may be further behind and need more help. Nothing has really changed in terms of the goal: to reduce emissions in two stages, 25 percent by the end of 2023 and 50 percent by 2030. Furthermore, technical system support will be in place by July 2022. The students are critical of the fact that the University of Gothenburg has not set a more challenging goal than the national minimum goal, and thus take the lead internationally. – We have obtained sup-
port for this in the working group, and there is a student representative who is part of the group. We think we are working on and taking the issue seriously. Based on the information we have discussed in the working group, when it comes to the work of other higher education institutions, the University of Gothenburg seems to be at the forefront in Sweden. This is a realistic goal that we believe will work for us. But how do you check that the University of Gothenburg's various activities will achieve the goal? –– The work to reduce carbon emissions will be integrated into the regular planning and follow-up process, and will be discussed in operational meetings from spring 2022. The planning and follow-up at the central level will align with
