Mohammad Nurunnabi
January 3, 2024
Prince Sultan University is making a global impact through world-leading research addressing global challenges, local and international partnerships, and market-driven curricula.
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are crucial players in promoting SDGs and climate education. During the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, UAE, from November 30 to 12 December 2023, UNESCO called for securing commitments and actions from countries regarding climate change education. “[Through COP28] we can look at what is required. Those requirements are complex but clear. We need to collectively, globally, reduce our emissions. There are things we can do now and there are things we can invest in in the future… It is no longer an option to be an ostrich and put your head in the sand.” H.E. Razan Al Mubarak - President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), UN Climate Change High-Level Champion of the UAE, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion 2023 at COP 28
Prince Sultan University became the first university in Saudi Arabia to pledge to be a net-zero campus by 2060, and to coordinate related events and agreements . The Race to Zero for Universities and Colleges campaign is run in partnership with the EAUC (the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education), Second Nature and the UN Environment Programme; EAUC are the secretariat. As a stakeholder, Prince Sultan University has been added to the UNFCCC Race to Zero campaign. The campaign mobilizes a coalition of leading net zero initiatives, representing 733 cities, 31 regions, 3,067 businesses, 173 of the biggest investors, and 622 HEIs. These ‘real economy’ actors join 120 countries in the largest ever alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. Collectively, these actors now cover nearly 25% of global CO2 emissions and over 50% of GDP.
PSU became the first university in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia to become a CarbonNeutral Certified University (5000 tonnes CO2e).
Prince Sultan University is the only university in Saudi Arabia that has been recognized as a case study in the Report to the UN 2023.
Source: Saudi Arabia’s Voluntary National Review 2023, page 66.
Prince Sultan University SDG Club is the first student SDG Club in Saudi Arabia. The vision is to educate students about environmental and climate issues and bring students together to discuss pressing issues regarding SDGs and to host events, volunteer and assist in SDG initiatives, and connect with both the local and global community. The individual work will make a collective impact on the challenges posed by integral sustainability. The PSU SDG Club hosted the PepsiCo Zero Waste Campaign and Competition in March 2023. PSU also engaged youth in SDG awareness sessions.
PSU is committed to promoting the UN’s SDG 2030 agenda as part of its own institutional strategic plan in support of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 framework. The Vision 2030 initiative calls on organizations – both private and public – to empower, nurture and inspire young Saudi citizens to fully realize their potential as part of the country’s ongoing formative action to combat the climate crisis and its impacts. During a fringe event held as part of the 2022 Global Sustainable Development Congress, hosted by Times Higher Education in partnership with the University of Glasgow, faculty members from PSU, alongside external partners, explored the strong international cooperation that is essential for the creation of a more sustainable world.