Beijing, May 2026 — The Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC) recently convened its 2026 Executive & Academic Committee Meeting and a preceding Climate Education Working Discussion, bringing together representatives from member universities across five continents to review the alliance’s 2025 achievements and chart its strategic course for 2026. Both meetings were held virtually.

Executive & Academic Committee Meeting: Setting the Strategic Agenda for 2026

The 2026 Executive & Academic Committee Meeting, gathered GAUC’s core leadership and senior academic representatives. In attendance were Professor YANG Bin, Vice Chair of Tsinghua University Council and Chair of the GAUC Executive Committee; Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair of the GAUC Academic Committee and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); Professor Llewellyn Hughes, Co-Chair representing the Australian National University (ANU); and senior delegates from Columbia University, Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, the University of Tokyo, the Indian Institute of Science, Stellenbosch University, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. GAUC Secretary-General LI Zheng, Deputy Secretary-General ZHANG Jian, and the Secretariat team also participated.

The meeting opened with video remarks from Lord Nicholas Stern, who underscored that the growth story of the 21st century will be driven by climate-friendly investments and innovations. He stressed the imperative of collaboration across natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences, and highlighted the responsibility of academia to influence infrastructure development decisions over the coming two decades. Professor Hughes, representing ANU as a co-chair institution, emphasized Australia’s critical need for international collaboration in its energy transition, particularly regarding hydrogen exports and value-added activities, and reaffirmed ANU’s commitment to supporting transitions in the Pacific and Southeast Asia through the GAUC platform.

Deputy Secretary-General Zhang Jian reported to the committee on the outcomes of the 2025 Board Meeting and the 2026 working proposals. In 2025, the alliance successfully held its inaugural Strategic Day and launched the 'Climate x' Leadership Training Program, attracting over 2,000 students from 79 countries. Following Board approval, the Australian National University formally became the rotating chair for 2026. This year, the alliance will prioritize five pillars: research collaboration, including mapping existing research partnerships among members, expanding the joint research seed fund model piloted by LSE and Tsinghua, and planning research activities focused on adaptation and resilience in the lead-up to COP31 and COP32; youth empowerment, advancing the ‘Climate x’ Immerse Summer Program in Guizhou, boosting member-student participation in the leadership training program, and applying for a GAUC Pavilion in the Blue Zone at COP31; public engagement, including high-level engagement with climate leaders; campus action, supporting climate education innovation across member institutions; and internal governance, refining the executive team structure to streamline operational decision-making.

During the dedicated research session, participants examined global trends in climate research and the alliance’s strategic priorities. Recognizing challenges such as evolving funding landscapes for climate science, delegates underscored the need to fortify intra-alliance research networks and explored concrete avenues to advance collaboration on adaptation and resilience.

In his closing remarks, Professor Yang Bin reaffirmed Tsinghua University’s unwavering commitment as a founding member and co-chair institution to support the GAUC Secretariat and provide sustained strategic and resource backing for the alliance’s mission.

Climate Education Working Discussion: Strengthening Operational Collaboration

Preceding the Executive & Academic Committee Meeting, GAUC held a Climate Education Working Discussion in the afternoon of May 19 Beijing time. Moderated by Professor Llewellyn Hughes of ANU and Bob Ward of LSE, the session brought together GAUC Secretary-General LI Zheng, Deputy Secretary-General ZHANG Jian, and colleagues from Sciences Po, the University of Oxford, the University of Tokyo, Imperial College London, and the Indian Institute of Science. With a focus on concrete programmatic and operational issues, the working discussion provided a substantive foundation for the strategic deliberations of the subsequent committee meeting.

Secretary-General Li Zheng opened the session by highlighting GAUC’s landmark achievements in climate education over the past two years. Emmanuel Guerin, Vice Dean of the Paris Climate School at Sciences Po, presented the school’s new interdisciplinary master’s program, which will welcome its first cohort of 70–80% international students in September.

During the institutional sharing segment, Professor Kensuke Fukushi of the University of Tokyo described the university’s Virtual Center for Climate Solutions and its efforts to mainstream climate education across all departments. Lucy Erickson, Head of Strategic Communications at Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, introduced the Vice-Chancellor’s Climate Colloquium, a voluntary cross-disciplinary course that consistently reaches full enrollment. Delegates from other member institutions also shared their innovative practices, ranging from new degree programs to executive education initiatives. The session was marked by an enthusiastic exchange of practical approaches and methodologies for advancing climate education, reflecting the rich diversity of institutional strategies and the collective commitment to harnessing interdisciplinary, cross-regional strengths within the alliance.

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