Read our full letter including signatures here. To sign, please scroll down to the form below.

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To the Executive Board, Board of Deans, and Faculty Boards of Leiden University,

Recent IPCC reports leave no room for doubt: we are in a climate crisis. “The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay […] will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” The coming years will be decisive for the future of ecosystems and societies: will we be able to drastically reduce emissions, avoid irreversible tipping points, and prevent climate breakdown while simultaneously improving health and well-being?

Leiden University prides itself on fostering independent discovery, innovation and exchange between academia and society. Moreover, part of the social function of universities is to imagine and manifest new possible futures. Therefore, our university should be at the forefront of taking action on climate change and biodiversity loss, by fostering pro-environmental operations, research, education, outreach and policies. Sustainability, resilience and justice should be guiding principles across all of  these domains. 

Our scientific literacy gives us the moral responsibility to  act on science’s warnings ourselves. If we as academics don’t take the science of climate change seriously, then how can we expect our political leaders, and society more broadly, to do so? As institutions of higher education, universities should lead the way in the transition towards a sustainable future.

This letter offers our broad views as employees, students, and alumni of Leiden University. It puts forward four key demands that we think can be agreed upon – and acted upon – immediately. They do not represent end goals, but a baseline that we, the undersigned, believe our university must fulfill.

We, the undersigned, believe that Leiden University must:

1. Acknowledge the crisis

Leiden University is a scientific institution and the science on the climate crisis is clear. It’s time to internalize the alarming information of numerous international scientific assessments - and start acting like our future and the future of the next generations depended on it, as they do. Accordingly, we believe that Leiden University must: 

• Publicly acknowledge that we are in an emergency situation, and offer a vision for the future. This can be done by making a public statement about the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis and its consequences, especially with regards to justice and human well-being. This should also be included in the University’s Sustainability Vision 2030 and in faculty and institutional strategy documents. Such statements not only show a commitment to act, they also serve as a crucial symbolic statement: what values and perspectives for a sustainable and just future can the University offer for students, staff, political leaders, and the wider society

To avoid the worst scenarios of climate chaos, universities can and should lead by example. You will have heard that the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam recently announced that it will no longer collaborate with fossil companies for research, unless these companies are committed – “demonstrably and in the short term” – to the energy transition. We believe that Leiden University should follow this example. We should take action to roll back our own ties to fossil-heavy industries (such as oil companies) - and in doing so, revoke their social license to operate and maintain the status quo. Specifically, we believe that Leiden University should:

• Establish a policy for evaluating collaborations with fossil-heavy industries.
• Provide a clear and actionable plan for eliminating or strictly limiting fossil ties.
• Publish a full list of every financial link the University has to fossil industries before the next Dies Natalis. This includes not only research funding but also investments (including LUF), donations, awards, and non-monetary gifts such as sponsored events.
• Publish a full list of non-financial links to these companies, including recruitment, internships, guest lectures, and other ‘soft’ ties, before the next Dies Natalis.

As of April 2023, Leiden University has no other ambition than ‘to be in line with the national climate goals.’ We believe the University should use the principles of sustainability and justice to guide decision-making across all levels. In addition, we should set more ambitious, quantifiable goals, including:

• A net-zero goal (of scope 1, 2 and 3) with a clear target, and an explanation for what that means (since institutions can have very different definitions of ‘net-zero’). Speed is of the essence: it is the total CO2 emitted, rather than the net-zero year, which determines climate impact. We strongly recommend that the University doesn’t stop its ambitions at net-zero, but strives to be a climate-positive institution in the future. 
• A focus on reduction before offsetting. The 2020 sustainability report reads that the CO2-footprint of our university has been reduced by 96% since 2016. The lion’s share of this reduction is due to carbon offsetting, which has been found to be ineffective. We must not succumb to the illusion of offsets, but leave fossil fuels in the ground.
• There is no prospect that aviation emissions can be reduced in the near future - except by flying less. The motto should be: reduce (flying less: virtual and hybrid meetings, which the university should promote), replace (use the train within Europe, even if this is more expensive than a flight) and refine (make more of your trips). Our current travel policies are a good start, but it’s unclear how widely they are implemented, and where the largest aviation emissions originate. The University should publicly share (anonymized) data on work-related travel in each sustainability report.
• There is much more to do: from ensuring only plant-based food in university restaurants to choosing sustainable banks and further mainstreaming sustainability and climate literacy in our curriculum.

We recognize that defining, identifying, and taking action on these issues requires research, dialogue, and debate. We are happy to learn that the university will provide a forum for making this possible, and look forward to this event taking place very soon. In addition to hosting this important forum – where many of us will be present – we believe that Leiden University should:  

• Ensure that community discussions of our fossil ties are accessible and democratic, and open to all members of the university community. Any forum discussions should be promoted effectively and well in advance to ensure wide participation.
• Require that sustainability and decarbonization remain on the agenda of the university’s various co-participation bodies. Faculty and Employee Councils should be involved in policy discussions regarding fossil funding and the environmental impacts of our entire university ecosystem, from building management and catering to research practices and travel behavior.
• Provide a clear timeline for the sequence of open discussions and steps for action.

This is the crucial decade to avoid catastrophic climate chaos. Inaction, or slow incremental change, is increasingly untenable. Leiden University cannot solve this complex and multifaceted problem on its own, but our university can take a strong position, show increased ambition, and lead the way in the large transitions we are facing.

To sign, please complete the form below. Your email address is being collected so that we can confirm your intention to sign. You will receive an email when we transfer your signature to the letter, and one more later on when we confirm that we have submitted the letter. After this, we will delete your data, unless you elect to join a mailing list for subsequent communications.