UCPH will not meet its climate target

UCPH will not meet its climate target for 2030. The university announced this on its intranet, KUnet.

In 2020, UCPH decided to reduce its climate footprint per employee and student by 50 per cent by 2030 compared with 2018.

But six years on, it is clear that the university will not meet that target.

The latest climate accounts show a reduction of nine per cent per full-time equivalent employee and student. Total emissions have fallen by approximately three per cent over the same period, according to the 2025 Climate Accounts.

UCPH’s climate accounts and 2030 target were discussed at a University Board meeting on 5 October 2026, which Uniavisen attended. The accounts were presented by Dean Bo Jellesmark Thorsen, UCPH’s sponsor for sustainability, and drew mixed reactions.

»In a company, you set a target, but then you learn more. You shouldn’t keep beating yourself up – it’s a balancing act,« said external board member Lars Rasmussen.

Student representative Emma Due was more critical:

»I’m really disappointed by what the accounts show. And I really question whether this was everything that could have been done, or whether it was a matter of priorities,« she said.

What happened?

According to Bo Jellesmark Thorsen, there are several reasons why UCPH has not managed to reduce its climate footprint further.

»The first is that UCPH has chosen a very ambitious target that demands a great deal of us and of the green transition in the world around us. The second is that these efforts take longer than we had hoped. That applies to UCPH and everyone else,« Bo Jellesmark Thorsen writes in a response to Uniavisen following the meeting.

He also highlights the difficulty of making progress on the ambition to consolidate UCPH’s activities into fewer square metres.

UCPH works on sustainability and climate within the framework of our mission as a university – to conduct research and provide research-based education at the highest international level

Bo Jellesmark Thorsen, Dean and UCPH’s sponsor for sustainability

»It now finally looks as though we can set a timetable for moving out of the former Municipal Hospital. That alone will move us a little further in the right direction. We must maintain our focus, even though we are impatient,« he writes.

Uniavisen asked whether there is a conflict between the ambition to conduct more research and the ambition to reduce carbon emissions – and whether UCPH is willing to forgo purchases, construction projects or other activities for the sake of the climate. Bo Jellesmark Thorsen responds:

»UCPH works on sustainability and climate within the framework of our mission as a university – to conduct research and provide research-based education at the highest international level,« he writes, adding:

»But no one is talking about conducting less research or educating fewer students for the sake of the climate. UCPH must help create the solutions of the future and support the green transition through research and education. So we must instead work on how we conduct research and teach.«

The hugely expensive buildings

Bo Jellesmark Thorsen »would have liked« some things to have gone more smoothly – particularly when it comes to buildings. Buildings are the largest emissions category in UCPH’s climate accounts, accounting for 31 per cent of its climate footprint in 2025.

Laboratories come next, accounting for 20 per cent.

»Much of our demand for laboratory materials, equipment and so on is highly specialised, sometimes with few alternatives on the market. This makes it more difficult and may be a contributing factor,« Bo Jellesmark Thorsen writes, adding:

»In recent years, we have stepped up our ambitions for laboratories with a systematic LEAF Certification, which we hope will deliver results. We are also increasingly working to coordinate the shared use of research infrastructure, which can reduce overall demand and thus consumption.«

He is, however, pleased that UCPH has been thorough and transparent in its approach to sustainability. But:

»I think we all would have liked to see better progress in the accounts.«

At the board meeting on 5 October, the board discussed whether UCPH’s climate target should be reassessed.

The agenda item was confidential, and Bo Jellesmark Thorsen does not wish to disclose the board’s conclusions at this stage.