Following June approval from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training, Royal Roads University began the first cohort of their climate action leadership masters program on May 31.
The program will examine the intersections between climate science, social science, justice and climate leadership, through 36 credits gained over two years. Its first cohort of 17 students hold degrees in such fields as geography, sustainable agriculture, environmental studies, social sciences and political science.
“This program is about preparing working professionals from all sectors to not only drive immediate changes, but to have a multiplier effect that triggers the kind of exponential action we need if we are going to survive (the climate crisis),” said Robin Cox, head professor of the new program.
Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training, Anne Kang, said creating global solutions for the world’s changing climate relies on an informed generation of innovators, creative thinkers and change-makers.
“I’m so pleased that the first cohort of Royal Roads University’s Climate Action Leadership program will embody the change we wish to see in the world for a cleaner planet,” she said.
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The program will engage thinking beneficial to the province’s CleanBC plan, Kang added. The plan lists dozens of commitments for the province, including the reduction of building emissions by 40 per cent and transportation fossil fuel use by 20 per cent by 2030.
“As humanity faces the present and future consequences of the climate crisis, we at Royal Roads believe this is a supremely timely, and essential program,” said president and vice-chancellor Philip Steenkamp. “There are deep interconnections between our need to act on climate change and on issues of equity and social justice worldwide. We want to educate and create leaders who can help face these global challenges.”
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