The Australian National University has vowed to go ¡°carbon negative¡± as Australia reels from a summer of ¡°flame, fear, hailstones and health warnings¡±.

Vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt said the ¡°universal concern¡± about climate change had triggered the need for ¡°significant¡± action. ¡°The world is looking to us and other leading universities for solutions,¡± he said in his annual State of the University address on 7 February.

He said he had commissioned ANU¡¯s Climate Change Institute to corral staff and students ¡°to chart how ANU can not only become carbon neutral, but carbon negative, as fast as possible¡±. Exactly what this meant will ¡°evolve over time¡±, but ¡°we don¡¯t have to wait until 2050 or beyond to act¡±.?

While many universities around the world have committed to carbon neutrality, few have taken the extra step of promising to erase some of the world¡¯s net emissions.

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Last year, Finland¡¯s Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology pledged to make its two campuses carbon negative by 2024, relying on in-house research expertise to achieve the ¡°ambitious¡± goal.

A negative carbon footprint may not be the only potential upside to the ANU¡¯s horror summer, Professor Schmidt suggested. ¡°Our community is never stronger nor kinder than when we¡¯re dealing with incidents like those that have given 2020 such a dramatic and terrible start,¡± he said.

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He said that while the full consequences of the coronavirus outbreak were yet to emerge, the crisis should be addressed with the resilience and care ¡°that has brought us through the challenges nature has thrown at us over the past six weeks¡±.?

ANU¡¯s future hinged on trust, Professor Schmidt insisted, and it must be earned rather than assumed. The university had decided to speak with ¡°brutal transparency¡± about last year¡¯s?cyber-attack, resolving to ¡°level with our community¡± about the scale of the breach and the impacts on individuals.

Professor Schmidt said ANU would be the ¡°brains trust¡± for policymakers, and that it would cultivate trust by doing ¡°everything we can to resemble the country we seek to serve¡±.

¡°We haven¡¯t yet done enough to look like Australia,¡± he said. ¡°We have a long way to go before we can truly say the nation¡¯s microcosm is its national university.¡±

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He highlighted enrolments from Indigenous people, who made up just 1 per cent of ANU¡¯s domestic students despite constituting 3.3 per cent of the national population. ¡°There is so much talent, potential and imagination that we are missing out on,¡± he said.

Professor Schmidt used the address to unveil a new scholarship programme for Indigenous students, bankrolled by A$25 million (?13 million) from the university. The aim is to attract matching contributions towards a A$50 million endowment which will fund the scholarships in perpetuity.

ANU says at least 30 scholarships will be awarded each year, worth up to A$30,000 annually. The scheme also includes mentoring, leadership training and tailored academic and pastoral support designed by the university¡¯s Indigenous higher education centre.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com