Concordia University, Canada

UNIVER/CITY 2030

UNIVER/CITY 2030 mobilizes the capacities of Montreal’s universities to help achieve municipal goals related to socioecological transitions, with an initial focus on reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. UNIVER/CITY 2030 pursues this mission and has three main pillars:

1) the Data Studio, which is developing a multi-stakeholder Climate Data Hub for Greater Montréal that enables ground-breaking sharing of public, private, and research data related to GHG emissions;

2) through the Climate Colab, which is mapping climate research capacity across the city’s universities and creating a Climate R&D agenda to guide action research related to the City of Montréal’s Climate Plan and;

3) the City School, which creates hands-on learning experiences that allow faculty and students to work with government officials, communities, and citizens on collective climate action.

UNIVER/CITY 2030 also supports two zero-carbon buildings project accelerators which bring together researchers, city officials, bankers, and energy providers to advise private developers on how to significantly reduce or even eliminate their greenhouse gas emissions.

Top 3 Learnings

1. There is a deep reservoir of goodwill and openness to collaboration related to climate action.
2. Universities are trusted convenors for collective impact projects.
3. Orienting academic work around shared societal goals and plans helps to ensure its relevance and value.