Get the University to commit to a Green New Deal

Our planet is facing an impending climate disaster. Our University, both as a hub of research and as one of the largest polluters in Southampton, must lead the way in sustainability before it's too late.

As students, we demand that by June 2020, the University of Southampton must:

1) Relaunch and expand the Carbon Reduction Fund.

2) Declare a climate and ecological emergency and strive for carbon-neutrality by 2025.

3) Implement complete transparency and publicity of our investments and sustainability performance.

4) Suspend research collaboration with and fully divest from fossil fuel producing companies. Suspend research collaboration on projects related to armaments.

5) Switch to a green energy provider.

6) End the sale of red meat on our campuses and introduce affordable plant-based alternatives.

7) End the use and distribution of single-use plastics on our campuses.

 

Furthermore, we urge the University of Southampton to take action to:

Sign up to a Green Procurement Scheme.

Invest in green energy research and production and expand solar panel infrastructure to every feasible space on University estates.

Implement the Sustainable Catering Policy.

Implement the Green Travel Fund and reimburse employee travel costs for more sustainable forms of transport, (e.g. trains), irresepective of it costing more than air travel.

Launch student-led sustainable infrastructure development schemes, carried out through curriculum and paid internships.

Withdraw the planning application for the multi-storey car park on Broadlands Road.

Provide University staff with free access to Unilink and Bluestar busses to discourage driving.

Push Southampton City Council to make Southampton bike-friendlier and pursue this on its own estates.

 

 If our petition is successful it will be taken to the Students' Union's AGM on Thursday 21 November.