Beef burgers banned and bottled water levied: Goldsmiths University announces climate emergency

BY TOBY PORTER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

Beef burgers and bottled water are getting the chop at a university after it announced a climate emergency and plans to reduce carbon emissions.

Goldsmiths University in New Cross has set itself the aim of becoming a carbon neutral institution by 2025 and the college’s new warden, Professor Frances Corner, has handed down a range of new rules.

All beef products will be removed from campus food outlets by the start of the 2019 academic year and a 10p levy on bottled water and single use plastic cups will be introduced to discourage their use.

Prof Corner said: “The growing global call for organisations to take seriously their responsibilities for halting climate change is impossible to ignore.

“Though I have only just arrived at Goldsmiths, it is immediately obvious that our staff and students care passionately about the future of our environment and that they are determined to help deliver the step change we need to cut our carbon
footprint as quickly as possible.

“Declaring a climate emergency cannot be empty words. I truly believe we face a defining moment in global history and Goldsmiths now stands shoulder to shoulder with other organisations willing to call the alarm and take urgent action to cut carbon use.”

The university has also promised to install more solar panels across the campus in New Cross and by December 1, 2019, they will no longer hold investments in companies that generate more than 10 percent of their revenue from the extraction of fossil fuel.