Global Alliance

What is it?
The Global Alliance of Tertiary Education and student Sustainability Networks was set up in March 2015 at the EAUC Annual Conference at the University of Leeds. Member networks recognise the importance of collaboration in putting universities, colleges and students at the heart of the international challenge to address sustainability. Each network has a unique and valuable perspective to contribute. We are a network of networks and are the world’s largest grouping of national and international networks spanning, Asia, Africa, Asia Pacific, the Americas and Europe. You can find all the latest updates here.

This “network of network” regroups the major national and international organisations worldwide working to make Higher Education institutions a major contributor to The Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It aims to build on the momentum of the UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative- HESI and ensure a dialogue between Higher Education Institutions, student networks and UN bodies under the HESI umbrella. See the graphic (to the right of this paragraph) reflecting the HESI/Global Alliance partnership.

The Global Alliance has launched with the support of HESI, the SDG Accord. The Accord is a mechanism to keep the HESI momentum alive and stimulate and assess SDG progress amongst universities and colleges. At the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2018, HESI members agreed to receive the SDG Accord report and recommendations at each forthcoming annual HLPF meetings.

What is the aim?
The overarching aim of the informal alliance is to connect our Members in the tertiary education sector and provide a collective and more powerful voice to contribute to global developments. In turn, this has an impact on National Governments which can better support our individual University and College Members to deliver a more sustainable institution. We can do more together than alone. Find our what we're doing here.

Who is a member?
This Global Alliance will work in line with United Nation's activities like UN Environment’s Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES). The Global Alliance includes the following organisations: