{"id":148983,"date":"2023-01-20T14:12:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T13:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=148983"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:36","slug":"climate-activists-higher-education-should-only-do-business-with-sustainable-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/01\/20\/climate-activists-higher-education-should-only-do-business-with-sustainable-banks\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate activists: higher education should only do business with sustainable banks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Academics and students call on all Dutch research universities and universities of applied sciences to only do business with sustainable banks. They say that the banks and insurers currently used by the higher education sector do not act in accordance with the Paris climate agreements.<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarkus Spiske\/Unsplash<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The activist group Scientists for Future, Students for Tomorrow, the Young Academy and the local Young Academies jointly urge their research universities and universities of applied sciences to switch to more climate-aware financial service providers. They make this appeal in a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0they sent to all institutions of higher education this Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Paris Agreement<\/h2>

According to the signatories to the letter, who emphasise the scientific consensus about the need to take action on climate change, the institutions should take the lead on sustainability. \u201cIf global heating is limited to 1.5\u00b0C, the climate risks for human and natural ecosystems will be substantially less\u201d, they write. In 2015, countries adopted the Paris Agreement to slow the rate of global heating. At the time, all Dutch research universities<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0universities of applied sciences<\/a>\u00a0confirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement and described what they would do to help achieve its targets.<\/p>\n

But according to the activists, seven years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, all banks and insurers used by Dutch knowledge institutions \u2018are still major lenders to the fossil fuel sector, a sector whose plans are contrary to the Paris target\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t