Global Universities Unite in Tajikistan for Climate Action

RRI.CO.ID, Depok - Universities from around the world gathered in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, for the Summit of Rectors of Green Universities, a high-level conference co-hosted by UI GreenMetric and the International University of Tourism and Entrepreneurship (IUTE).

Held from April 14–17, 2026, the summit marked a pivotal moment for higher education institutions to move beyond fragmented plans and toward systemic, real-world climate action.

UI GreenMetric Head Vishnu Juwono underscored the urgency of the challenge, citing UN reports that show global progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains alarmingly slow.

“Seventeen percent achievement is not progress, it is a warning sign. If we continue at this pace, we are not solving inequality but allowing it to become permanent,” he said on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

UI GreenMetric is a global university ranking system initiated by Universitas Indonesia in 2010, designed to measure and compare universities’ commitment to sustainability and environmentally friendly practices.

As the initiator of the global green campus ranking, UI GreenMetric has demonstrated the scale of universities’ economic and operational power.

Data shows that institutions adopting sustainability standards can reduce energy consumption by up to 30 percent while integrating infrastructure and resource management more efficiently.

With more than 235 million students worldwide, universities act as long-term impact multipliers, shaping behaviors and producing future decision-makers.

IUTE Tajikistan, as host, played a strategic role in facilitating cross-border dialogue. The summit highlighted how universities in developing nations are stepping to the forefront of global climate adaptation.

IUTE’s initiative reflects a commitment to bridging environmental transition with digital progress, ensuring technologies such as artificial intelligence align with ecological sustainability rather than widening inequalities.

The forum also encouraged universities to transform sustainability data into concrete policies linked to large-scale green financing opportunities from institutions like the Asian Development Bank. Vishnu Juwono reminded participants of the decisive role higher education must play.

“The defining challenge today is not whether transformation is needed, but whether it can be achieved quickly enough. The institutions that matter in the future will not simply operate within systems, but redesign them. Universities must be among those institutions," he concluded. ***