A roadmap for building climate resilience at higher education institutions: A case study of arizona state university

Abstract

Over the past few years, more and more higher education institutions have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality and designed and adopted Climate Action Plans. Although many higher institutions are adopting climate action plans, few are integrating resilience principles and priorities, which are essential for understanding institutions’ adaptive capacity for dealing with climate change. There is little existing research on how higher education institutions can implement climate resilience programs, behav-iors, and policies into their planning process and campus-communities. To address this gap, this case study explores Arizona State University’s process of designing and implementing a climate resilience plan and outlines best practices other higher education institutions can utilize to create their own climate resilience plan. We critically discuss the importance of climate resilience at the higher education level, outline steps necessary for designing an inclusive and holistic climate resilience plan, and provide examples of important techniques used to design the climate resilience plan.