JUNE

This week the ACTS team rolled out some exciting new updates to our website, including a brand new member portal. This means you can now access all of our member-only content, such as our online resource hub, webinars and upcoming roundtable events from one easy-to-navigate page! 

You'll also be able to search for sustainability experts from our network through the new ACTS member database. This online contact listing features sustainability practitioners, individuals actively working in sustainability roles or those with significant expertise in an area of sustainability. Members that qualify can opt-in to the list and include up to four areas of expertise, meaning you can search and filter contacts by a range of sustainability areas.

Don't forget that if your organisation is a member of ACTS, all staff and students from your institution can register as a subscriber to access our member portal. So if you know colleagues or students that are interested in sustainability, invite them to register today!

• Building Back Better
• Leading the Circular Economy 

• Climate Action (formerly 2030 Climate Action)
• Next Generation Learning and Skills (formerly Learning, Teaching & Skills)
• Sustainability Institution of the Year (formerly Continuous Improvement)

• This means finalists who were previously awarded highly commended can now reapply to the same category this year for the chance to win. 
• Winning initiatives must still wait two years before they can reapply. 

Carbon reduction and adaptation to the effects of climate change are essential for institutional resilience and business continuity. Institutions are exposed to significant climate risks and responsibilities to meet targets; and need to be taking bold steps to meet these targets while ensuring student outcomes and satisfaction are maintained.

This roundtable will focus on institutions that are working on climate change mitigation and adaption, including net-zero emissions efforts. Specific discussion areas may include:

• Plans for achieving net-zero.
• Work on Scope 3 emissions.
• Mitigation and adaptation activities.
• Research and academic knowledge in helping advance actions.
• Partnerships within your community and other stakeholders.
• Overall barriers and challenges have been identified and, if possible, overcome.

Following the recent UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, many educators are asking a key question: are we educating for the world we want?

Despite many valuable on-the-ground initiatives, the answer is a clear “no” in the wide-ranging forum The Pedagogy of Transition: Educating for the Future We Want, published in May by the Great Transition Initiative (GTI).

Following an opening paper by Stephen Sterling, Emeritus Professor at the University of Plymouth, twenty-eight panellists - including David Orr, Arjen Wals, Vandana Singh, Guy Dauncey, Rajesh Tandon, Isabel Rimanoczy, Iveta Silova and Richard Falk – critique the dominant education models in practice today and reflect on what a “pedagogy of transition” aligned with the long transition to a just, ecological, and fulfilling civilization would look like—and what it already looks like in the classroom/lecture hall and beyond.

The forum contributes to growing international debate on the purposes and role of education by offering a powerful and challenging critique of conventional assumptions about education and learning. More importantly, it posits inspiring alternative visions and practicable steps to transformative change that point the way forward.