University of Hull students join global climate strike

Students and staff from the University of Hull will be joining the Global Climate Strike today. 

Hull University Union will shut down all its services and operations from 10-11am to stand in solidarity with the Global Climate Strike.

Isobel Hall, President of the Students’ Union, who is leading the demonstration at the University, said: “This is the beginning of a week of action all over the world! It is important that we stand in solidarity with the global strikes and other students’ unions and get involved with shaping the way society meets the needs of future generations and the planet.”

As part of the strike experts from the Energy and Environment Institute will be adding their voices to the global protest demanding more action on climate crisis. 

Professor Dan Parsons, Director of the Institute, said: “As a community of researchers we share the concerns of the youth movement and are proud to stand with them in protesting for action – action based on science. We are campaigning for an inclusive zero carbon transition in order to meet the 1.5 degree limit to warming that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has highlighted as critical.” 

The strike, which starts on campus outside Student Central at 10am this morning and will join other organisations from Hull at a city centre protest in Queens Garden, is in support of the movement that has encouraged young people around the world to wake up the world with their powerful Fridays for Future school strikes for the climate.

Millions of school climate strikers have been leaving their classrooms every Friday and now, just ahead of a UN emergency climate summit, they are calling on more and more young people to join them in action.

In response to this call, students and staff from the University will be taking part with hopes of sounding the alarm and showing politicians that business as usual is no longer an option.

As a University, we're committed to shaping a brighter, fairer and carbon neutral future for all and we're incredibly proud of our students for joining the movement and using their voice to help make a difference. 

Over the last three years, the University of Hull has reduced its carbon emissions from 17,000 tonnes to 13,000 and is committed to reducing this further.

The Energy and Environment Institute is also leading efforts to tackle global environmental resilience and energy sustainability.

Professor Parsons said; “The Institute is focused on researching climate change and related global challenges, from understanding the way in which earth surface processes are changing and improving predictions of flooding for example, through to the impact this change is having on  people’s lives.”

With some of the largest offshore wind farms on our doorstep, the University continues to drive innovation through Aura. This powerful coalition, including the University of Hull, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Ørsted, Catch, the National Oceanography Centre and Humber LEP, has been collaborating on significant projects to sustain the UK as a global leader in clean energy.

The Humber’s clean energy revolution is poised to make another major leap forward after an ambitious bid by the University of Hull was shortlisted for a multi-million economic regeneration funding programme. The bid aims to drive innovation across the clean energy sector, supporting businesses to seize emerging opportunities, creating a range of jobs in new industries and firmly establishing the Humber as a global centre of clean energy expertise.

If successful, it will lead a consortium of businesses to accelerate economic growth in the Humber and establish the region as a world leader in the innovations required to drive sustainable clean growth, creating over 10,000 new jobs, driving inward investment and adding up to an additional £7bn GVA to the local economy.

The bid will turn the Humber into a “living laboratory”, using the region to test out innovative ideas across the clean energy sector, and acting as a global example of sustainable growth.

The University of Hull has also pledged support to Covering Climate Now, a global journalism initiative committed to bringing more and better coverage to the climate crisis. Alongside the University of Sheffield, the University joins 300 outlets worldwide, including The Guardian newspaper, and dozens of institutional and independent partners, with a combined audience of more than 1 billion people to focus on the defining story of this century.