How well are universities adapting to climate change? Insights from Australia

Universities are not separate from the social and physical systems that need to adapt to climate change. Indeed, universities have an obligation to adapt well given their position as potential enablers of others’ adaptation through education and research. Many factors suggest that universities should be highly active in adapting to climate change: declarations of climate emergency and calls for action amongst staff and students, the inclusion of climate change action in global university ranking systems, in-house expertise on climate change, and broader elements of organizational adaptive capacity. To help understand how universities are adapting, in 2022 we assessed adaptation planning in Australia’s 42 universities. Document analysis of adaptation plans across the sector reveals that, concerningly, only four universities seem to have undertaken explicit climate adaptation planning. The few adaptation plans that existed focus only on direct risks to university assets and seem to have been primarily produced by sustainability teams rather than central organizational decision-makers. Interviews and focus groups with university staff suggest that the primary barrier to greater progress in the sector is not organizational capacity or individual staff effort but a broader institutional disinterest in climate adaptation relative to other issues. Overall, universities are not pursuing adaptation. Widespread inaction suggests that substantial work is needed simply to generate the right enabling conditions within universities’ complex and loosely coupled organizational structures. More positively, universities have an opportunity to use and reflect on their own adaptation struggles in a way that not only manages their risks but generates empathy, shared endeavour and innovative new approaches with other universities and sectors, their communities and wider society.Universities have not acted on climate change adaptation, even though they have suffered impacts from climatic events.Organizational complexity is salient in climate change adaptation, due to the disconnection within organizations of risks, impacts and decision-making.The remit for climate change adaptation within sustainability teams limits the scope of adaptation actions and may act as a barrier to transformative adaptation.Therefore, universities and other organizations need to consider the responsibilities and organizational structures for adaptation to enable transformative policy and strategy.