SOAS and the Climate Crisis

It is another year in which records for temperature averages and extremes have been broken, and in which destructive weather phenomena have wreaked havoc across the globe. Devastating fires and floods, storms and droughts cause terrible suffering on ever increasing scales, to continents, to nations and to individual lives.

The need to combat the causes and the effects of the climate crisis is – or ought to be - evident. Very often, the Global South suffers the adverse effects out of proportion and with less resilience than the Global North.

SOAS has a role to play in addressing climate justice and in this article, we take a brief look at some of the ways in which SOAS is working as an institution through teaching, training, and research to have an impact on the effects of the climate crisis.

SOAS Sustainability

In 2019, SOAS signed up to a Declaration of Climate Emergency and was the first London university to divest from holdings in fossil fuels. SOAS’ Net Zero goals comprise work on issues such as electricity and gas usage, waste, recycling, areas such as paperless offices, and travel, especially when considering its responsibility for students’ travel and the emissions generated because overseas students come to the London campus. SOAS has published a detailed Net Zero strategy, which is available to read.

SOAS also set up a Climate Action Group, which was launched pre-COVID, and the work of which was restrained by this different crisis, but which has the potential to help co-ordinate the efforts around environmental concerns with a focus on research and teaching to help students address the enormous challenges of climate change.

SOAS also works in areas of outreach with global partners and with local communities such as the Somers Town Community Association (roughly the area between Euston and King’s Cross), looking at heat responses.

Teaching

Dr Harald Heubaum, Chair of the Centre for Energy and Climate Policy, developed the MSc Global Energy and Climate Policy course, which addresses the links between the low-carbon transition, energy security and climate governance, through cases drawn from both the Global North and South. Founded in 2012, the MSc was one of the world’s first to jointly address energy and climate and is offered both on campus and via online learning. Students acquire theoretical knowledge of climate and energy policies as well as practical skills in risk analysis, policy analysis, negotiation and media training. The MSc is rounded out by a unique week-long study tour to key institutions in the energy and climate policy space in Brussels and Paris, such as the European Commission, various energy associations, and the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Professor Ulrich Volz teaches a campus-based Masters course on ‘Green Finance’ and, through the Centre for Sustainable Finance (CSF), an annual ‘Summer School on Sustainable Finance and Climate Change’ together with Dr Heubaum. Based in the Economics Department, the CSF also supports many partner universities in the Global South in developing the teaching curriculum in areas important for strengthening macrofinancial resilience to the climate crisis.

Professor Tom Tanner, Director of the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy (CeDEP), has been working to promote co-ordination and collaboration across the teaching programmes within Development Studies, and there is now commitment that elements of the climate crisis will be taught in every module, no matter the core subject, because of its pervasive and cross-cutting nature. CeDEP also offers programmes and courses that award credits for the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) – a professional qualification in environmental management.

CeDEP has a focus on online distance learning. It teaches sustainable development, climate change and development online programs. The Centre has existed in various forms for over 30 years, originally in the form of Wye College and since around 2010 at SOAS, within Development Studies for the last few years.

Professor Tanner is currently updating a reader on adaptation to climate change in which key authors from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are contributing short chapters and summaries on various topics and recording interviews and podcasts.

Research and External Engagement

The Centre for Development, Environment and Policy is working on Just Transitions. With the huge shift towards low carbon energy, research is underway to understand how those changes can happen in ways that do not punish the poorest and most vulnerable people.

From an academic economics approach, these can be viewed as big, structural transformations and may present an opportunity for many countries to tackle some of the structural problems in their economies, markets, and how they operate. The work of CeDEP looks towards the individual perspective: about the poverty implications of these transitions and whether they are going to be beneficial to the people who most need it.

Dr Jon Phillips is looking at the shift from charcoal as a fuel. In principle, there’s a ladder going from dung and biomass, through wood and charcoal, into gas and hopefully into small scale renewables, solar home systems and biogas generation. His research considers charcoal transition in relation to other development drivers and the extent to which charcoal is still a large economy and fuel source, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Giuseppina Siciliano studies large hydropower developments and its implications as part of that transition.

CeDEP collaborates with colleagues across SOAS on these issues such as Dr Andrew Newsham on impact and adaptation, and the Centre for Water and Development led by Professor Mollinga, which works on water and natural resource issues.

CeDEP Director, Professor Tanner, has been working on child and youth-centred adaptation and resilience using participatory action research methods with groups of young people to train them as researchers to investigate issues in their communities. Most recently this has been in southern Africa, with groups of young women looking at the root causes of what is driving vulnerability to disasters from a feminist perspective. Their responses are often unexpected because they are doing the analysis themselves and giving perspectives you would not get as an outside researcher. For example, where there are issues with safety as part of vulnerability: where there is a flood event and people are trapped either in houses or schools or evacuation shelters, and gender-based violence may occur as a result. The research is driven by giving the young people a voice and moving from vulnerability to agency.

CeDEP acts as the Secretariat for SOAS around the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) and each year takes a delegation of researchers and postgraduate students to COP who are working on relevant issues. The Centre also takes this role for SOAS at the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the International Sustainable Development Movement. This creates a mass of material, which can be accessed by SOAS students and researchers.

The SOAS Middle East Institute is one of 20 international think tanks that form the International Advisory Board of Think 28 (T28), an official research and policy advisory platform for the global climate change conference COP28. As part of this role, SOAS experts will be presenting policy papers and recommendations on climate finance and taking part in COP28 activities in Dubai.

In 2019, SOAS founded the Centre for Sustainable Finance (CSF). Under its director, Professor Ulrich Volz, it has become one of the UK’s leading academic groups concerned with sustainable finance and climate change, in terms of its output and impact, especially with its focus on the Global South. The Centre’s research ranges from green financial governance to climate risk insurance, to inclusive green finance. CSF members have served on UN and government commissions on climate and sustainable finance, advised government ministries on climate policy and negotiations, researched and advised on improving governance in power and infrastructure sectors, and have worked with development finance institutions, as well as private financial institutions, to develop innovative sustainable finance solutions.

CSF delivers customised training programmes to central banks, including Banco Central do Brasil, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Central Bank of Oman. The Centre has also developed and convened bespoke capacity building programmes for private financial institutions, including some of the largest banks in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The CSF also hosts the Secretariat of the University Network for Strengthening Macrofinancial Resilience to Climate and Environmental Change, which forms part of the Resilience and Adaptation Mainstreaming Program (RAMP) hosted by the World Resources Institute. RAMP aims to develop long-term capacity in ministries of finance and leading universities in areas important for strengthening macrofinancial resilience to climate change. A key pillar of RAMP, the University Network, led by Professor Volz and Dr Heubaum, develops curricula and course materials to enable universities in climate-vulnerable countries to offer high-quality graduate-level teaching and professional training. Doing so will enable future and current leaders to effectively address climate-related risks and vulnerabilities. Current partner countries are Bangladesh, Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia.

These projects and examples are just a small sample of the academic work and research on areas such as sustainability, resilience, and adaptation to the climate crisis, which SOAS undertakes. For more information on these and other leading academics and research projects, visit the webpages of the Research Centres linked in the article. In the last 10 years, SOAS’ impact on climate policy and sustainable finance has grown, especially with the focus on climate justice and the Global South. In a crowded field, SOAS punches above its weight.

What can SOAS alumni do?

Professor Tanner explains that people should think about what they can do as individuals to tackle climate and sustainability issues versus what they can do to try and change structures. For example, using renewable energy providers who can often provide better service and price structures, sends a message to the market that people are unwilling to buy energy generated from fossil fuels.

How you advocate for structural changes as an individual or by working with others, rather than saying it's all about consumer choices, is important. Dr Heubaum emphasises that individual action can only contribute so much. The systemic challenge continues to be at the core of the debate and here, big interventions are needed. As an institution, SOAS can help lead the way and support decision-makers in charting a sustainable and equitable way forward. This includes engaging with SOAS alumni, many of whom focus on climate-related issues in their work.

Therefore, as Professor Tanner points out, you should not just think about what you can do as an individual consumer in terms of your own sustainability, but how your decisions are constrained by the bigger systems and what you can do to change those.