Locating and bridging higher education’s urgency gap in climate action

The accelerating pace of anthropogenic climate change is creating an urgency gap between the severity of climate impacts and institutional responses. This study examines how higher education institutions (HEIs) are addressing this gap through climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Using data from 151 respondents across 44 countries, we analyzed alarm regarding IPCC projections, confidence in limiting global temperature increases, institutional response, and barriers to climate action. Nearly 90% of respondents were moderately or highly alarmed regarding IPCC projections extending beyond 2030 (89.2%) and 2050 (88.6%), while more than 70% expressed no or low confidence in limiting warming to 1.5 °C (77.1%) and 2 °C (72.8%) by 2050. Despite widespread alarm regarding future climate projections, almost two out of five respondents (39.1%) indicated that climate action receives little or no priority in their institution’s mission, and over half (51.7%) reported only slight or no integration of climate change in institutional planning. Fewer than two in five respondents (39.1%) reported that their institution had adopted carbon policies, with significantly higher rates reported in developed (61.8%) than developing (37.0%) countries ( p = .009). Carbon reduction strategies showed limited implementation across institutional areas, with fewer than one-third of respondents reporting integration in learning and teaching (27.2%), campus energy (26.5%), research (25.8%), or waste disposal (24.5%). The most frequently cited obstacles were lack of funding (61.1%) and absence of a robust climate culture (57.7%). These findings reveal a critical gap between the recognized urgency of the climate crisis and HEIs’ institutional action, highlighting the need for stronger integration of climate priorities into missions, strategies, and resource allocation.