Especially on issues as polarizing as energy and climate change, universities are uniquely trusted as sources of independent research and analysis.

To rise to the challenge of climate change, universities need to be more flexible, innovative, and dynamic than they have in the past. They must adapt their operations to the urgency of the climate crisis in four ways. First, they need to move with speed–something universities are not known for–to execute on creative visions for climate impact. At the current rate, the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted consistently with no more than 1.5˚C of warming will be exhausted in roughly a decade. The clock is ticking.

Second, universities need to be more intentional about connecting research to impact—what Columbia’s President Lee Bollinger calls the “fourth purpose” of a university. Beyond the other three purposes of research, education, and service, this focus on impact allows universities to not just understand the problem but to actually help leaders solve it. In the face of existential problems like climate change, more universities need to heed this fourth purpose.

Third, universities must encourage cross-disciplinary scholarship. A challenge as cross-cutting as climate change cannot be the sole purview of climate scientists or engineers. Rather, building a sustainable and equitable energy system will require teams of political scientists, economists, sociologists, and physical scientists to pool their expertise, much as the teams of academics did at Columbia for the Manhattan Project decades ago, albeit in service of a more sinister objective.

Fourth, universities must build partnerships with other institutions.

In particular, the world’s wealthiest research universities must find more ways to collaborate with peer institutions in developing countries, which are facing the worst climate impacts despite contributing the least to global emissions. North-South partnerships between universities can lay the groundwork for indigenous, sustainable, and equitable growth in a manner that is appropriate for local communities rather than imposed from outside.

Columbia University is stepping up to the climate challenge by demonstrating progress along each of these four dimensions. In doing so, it builds on a rich history of leadership climate, spanning the founding of Lamon-Doherty Earth Observatory in 1949, the first use of the phrase “global warming” in an academic article in 1975, and Jim Hanson’s seminal Congressional testimony about climate change in 1988.

In 2020, Columbia President Lee Bollinger announced the creation of a new Climate School, the first in the country, of which I am proud to serve as a co-founding. In his announcement, Bollinger noted that “The creation of a new school is an exceedingly rare and significant event,” but that this “area of massive human concern” warranted such a step. In the act of creating the Climate School, Columbia revealed its vision for the societal role of institutes of higher education—not just as centers for research and education but also as responsible citizens and engines of progress.

Beyond academia, Columbia University is pursuing innovative approaches to impact the world of policy. The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA, which just celebrated its 10^th anniversary, is pioneering new ways to adapt the rigor of major research institutions to the pace of policymaking. It has built a team of nearly 100 scholars and staff with deep expertise and real-world experience who work with the faculty across Columbia to bring the insights from academic research to policymakers in the formats and timeframes leaders in the public sector need.

In short, Columbia University is responding to the urgency of the moment by making the largest commitment a great research university can. From building an entire school devoted to tackling the crisis to major initiatives like the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia offers a model for how institutions of higher learning can use their unique resources to deal with the challenge of climate change.