Florida Tech Among Global Leaders in Climate Action, Ranking Finds

Times Higher Education Examines
Universities’ Social and Economic Impact  

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Florida Tech is among the global leaders in Climate Action, according to new rankings from Times Higher Education that recognize universities across the world for their social and economic impact based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Florida Tech was No. 36 out of 376 institutions from 70 countries in the Climate Action ranking in the 2020 THE Impact Rankings released this week. The Melbourne university was the only Florida-based school in the ranking and one of just 14 U.S. universities total, with the others including MIT, Loyola and American University.

Universities submitted data to London-based Times Higher Education (THE) to participate in the Impact Rankings. With the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on Climate Action, THE was seeking to highlight “how universities are acting to address climate issues through research, low carbon use and education,” the organization said.

The metrics examined in Climate Action included publication citations, research on climate action, low-carbon energy use, environmental education measures such as local programs on climate, and commitment to becoming a carbon-neutral university.

Florida Tech’s submission to THE highlighted some of the university’s multiple strengths in these areas:

• Florida Tech has been actively involved in the East Central Florida Regional Resilience Collaborative, which involves over 20 local governments. Faculty members served on the Sea Level Rise Committee of this project.

• Florida Tech faculty serve on boards of directors and in advisory capacities for multiple local non-governmental organizations, including the Marine Resource Council (where a faculty board member created the Climate Change Committee) and the Citizens Climate Lobby.

• For education measures, Florida Tech has for 10 years hosted the Coastal Climate Adaptation Library, among the largest global repositories of climate adaptation literature with more than, 2,700 reports available.

• Florida Tech has helped inform and support local governments about climate change disaster risk through the ongoing involvement of students in the university’s Sustainability Major program. These students have done formal internships with local governments to build sustainability plans and design local climate adaptation programs. Additionally, faculty and students have worked with various local governments on stormwater design.

“Your inclusion in these rankings is in itself a great achievement and it marks your institution out as a global pioneer – demonstrating commitment not just to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals through its teaching, research and knowledge transfer, but also to embodying the goals in your institution’s internal practices, policies and procedures and providing verifiable evidence of your activities,” THE said in announcing the rankings.

The THE Impact Rankings launched last year and are the only global rankings to document evidence of universities’ impact on society, rather than just research and teaching performance.

Learn more about the THE Impact Rankings on Climate Action by clicking here.

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