A two-day symposium sponsored by the Tufts Office of the Provost and Institute of the Environment in collaboration with Tufts Climate Action.

This is the 25th anniversary of the Talloires Declaration, the pioneering commitment by university leaders to environmental sustainability that was spearheaded by Jean Mayer, the president of Tufts University at the time. Today there are over 499 signatories to this Declaration from more than 55 countries. As the world moves to implementing the Paris Agreement, universities will play a critical leadership role in developing green technologies, assessing and crafting low-cost policies to help the world make the shift to a low carbon society, and to train the next generation of leaders in the importance of sustainability in both developed and developing economies. The symposium will also consider institutional actions the University can take, including fossil fuel divestment. An October 2015 meeting of representatives from the board of trustees, the administration, the faculty, and Tufts Climate Action resulted in the commitment to a University symposium on these issues. The symposium is a University-wide examination of the role Tufts in particular and universities more generally can play on this issue, and students, faculty and the administration have shared in its planning and execution.

Keynote: Jeffrey Sachs

Thursday, March 31 at 6:00PM (Pearson Hall – Room 104)

Panel Discussions

Friday, April 1 from 8:45AM to 3:00PM (Alumnae Lounge)