This page is out of date – for more up to date information about our Climate & Sustainability strategy, please visit our King’s Climate & Sustainability pages.
King’s Sustainability events
King’s Sustainability regularly organise, and promote, sustainability-related events at King’s.
Please sign up for our newsletter to stay tuned about all King’s Sustainability events. You can also follow us on social media to get the latest updates. Looking for something specific? Scroll through all King’s events here and search for your keyword, or view events related to climate here.
Sustainability Seminar Series:
King’s Sustainability is hosting a Sustainability Seminar Series throughout the academic year covering some of the biggest topics in sustainability. Learn more about climate science, justice, sustainable agriculture and much more from seminal speakers in the field. Through these monthly 90-minute sessions, you will get the opportunity to fully engage with the subject in the breakout room discussions and Q&As with the speaker. We aim for this series to be interactive, empowering and motivate everyone to take action! This series will run between October 2022 and June 2023 with roughly one seminar per month. Past seminars have covered climate change, economic sustainability, sustainable food systems, global health, and more. Register your interest here.
Sustainability Month: February is Sustainability Month at King’s! Find out more here.
Welcome to King’s: Each year, we offer a range of sustainability events to new students at King’s to ensure all students know about sustainability initiatives and how to get involved. Information is also shared to all students through the Welcome App and student newsletters. Find out more here.
Fairtrade Fortnight: Did you know King’s was a Fairtrade University? Each year, we celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight with events and promotions to support farmers worldwide.
Most of our online events are recorded, and all King’s students and staff can access these through our Kaltura channel.
Past King’s Sustainability events:
Sustainability Seminar Series 2021-22
As part of our Sustainability & Climate KEATS module, we ran an online seminar series open to all students and staff. You can find recordings of these events on our King’s Sustainability Kaltura channel.
Sustainability Month 2022
Find out more about Sustainability Month 2022 here, and find recordings of events here.
Welcome to King’s 2021
During Welcome to King’s 2021, we offered 8 sustainability events – from an introduction to sustainability and guides for students living at home, to a session on climate action and sustainable science. Recordings of these sessions are available to all King’s students and staff through the Welcome to King’s Kaltura channel.
In addition, we took part in Welcome Hubs at the Strand, Guy’s, and Denmark Hill, speaking to new students about sustainability, answering questions, and sharing ways to get involved.
We also included information on sustainability on the Welcome to King’s App, and in communications to incoming students.
Sustainability Month 2021
At this first event of Sustainability Month, hear more from the King’s Sustainability on how they are working to make the university more sustainable, what progress has been made so far, and how you can get involved!
- 2nd (12-1pm) – Lunch & Learn: Food Sustainability
This L&L will be a deep dive into the world of our food system, what impact it is having on our climate and society, as well as giving you the information and tools to help #TakeAction. Feel free to bring your lunch and tune in!
Use your money for positive change! The banking sector is fueled by fossil fuels and unsustainable practices, but there is another way! Find out more about how to use your money for positive change through this step by step lunch & learn.
Hope for the Future is a climate charity that equips communities, groups and individuals across the country to communicate the urgency of climate change with their local politicians. Based on first-hand experience, gathered since their creation in 2013, their training draws on communications research, influencing theory, counselling techniques and advice from politicians themselves. This workshop will focus on how to apply these influencing and campaigning techniques to sustainability issues the King’s community would like to solve. #TakeAction
- 8th (1-2pm) – Connecting with Charities – Political Change
Join this KCLSU event to hear from local charities who work to #MakeADifference & campaign for political change – as well as learning more about how you can get involved! 💪
- 9th (1-1:45pm)– Giki Zero: Cut a tonne in ‘21
Are you up for a challenge? Join creator of Giki Apps, Jo Hand, to find out ways you can reduce your carbon footprint and explore the Giki app which is revolutionising consumer behaviour.
- 10th (2-3pm)– Zero-Waste Workshop
Join the King’s’ Sustainability Team to hear about what King’s is doing to help protect the plant and reduce waste. As well as getting tips on how you can become more zero-waste! #TakeAction
- 11th (6-10pm) – Ocean Decade Quiz
2021 kicks off the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development! To celebrate, join this ocean-themed pub quiz. All donations will go to the Marine Conservation Society 🐬
At this event, you will hear more from Katie, a member of the environmental organisation Animal Rebellion. How & why they set up, the role animal agriculture plays in the climate crisis and how you can support to help mitigate the harmful impacts of the climate crisis.
Join the Geography Department and their 7 panellists; from environmental editor at the Guardian, Damian Carrington, to Francesca Trotman, Founder of Love the Oceans. There is a great range of career sectors represented – from media to consulting, come and hear more about what their careers entail and ask the questions you want to know in the panel Q&A!
- 16th (6:30-7:30pm) – Sustainable Finance with Political Economy Soc
Attend this Sustainable Finance panel to find out more about the several mechanisms that exist behind green finance, the extent to which it is developed, as well as exploring how sustainable finance is supported in the political world today!
There is an increased focus on incorporating sustainability into educational institutions, which this event organised by Climate Action Society, builds upon. Hear from Jamie Agombar, executive director of SOS-UK about the importance of quality education on the issues of climate change, the Education Campaign and hear more about the intention to incorporate education on climate change into all courses at King’s!
Hosted by King’s Think Tank Energy and Environment Policy Centre and King’s College London Climate Action Society, we are honoured to welcome an expert guest panel to speak about International Climate Policy in the Global South. This event will explore the environmental inequality and vulnerability of developing countries in the face of climate breakdown, loss-and-damage schemes as a means of environmental justice and as a coping mechanism for communities, and the future that international climate policy is likely to play in the Global South. What are the challenges facing concrete loss-and-damage policy in international climate legislation? How important is loss and damage in ensuring environmental justice to the communities and countries worst affected by the impacts of climate change? And how can accountability and liability be identified, agreed upon and enforced?
- 19th – (1:30-2:30pm) – Global Health & the Climate Crisis talk
Hear more from Maria, Sustainability Officer at King’s and trained Climate Reality Leader, on the indisputable links between global health and the climate crisis. #KCLSustainable
Learn more about Fairtrade Fortnight campaign (which runs from 22 Feb – 7 March 2021), the Fairtrade work at King’s, as well as testimonies from Fairtrade farmers on the impact the Fairtrade accreditation has had on them. #MakeADifference
The King’s Entrepreneurship Institute help people develop entrepreneurial mindsets & the skills they need to bring disruptive ideas to life. At this event, they’ll explore the importance of embedding sustainability into your ideas, not only for longevity and scale, but also for our communities & the planet! You will also get to hear from King’s ventures who have done just that. #TakeAction
Attend this years London Student Sustainability Conference, co-hosted by King’s & City University. The conference is entirely student-led; with opportunities for students to exhibit their work through presentations, posters and performances.
You will hear the latest sustainable research from over 30 students studying across London – from ‘Climate & Cake’, sustainable fashion, to AI for the future! #LSSC21 #KCLSustainable
Join the first-ever King’s Sustainability Hackathon!
Hackathons provide an opportunity for a group to work together to problem-solve and develop real solutions to a problem. This hackathon will present 3-4 sustainability challenges we want to tackle at King’s. These challenges include:
- How can we support diversity within the field of sustainability further (from the education of school pupils, college and university life and into careers)?
- What should an online, open-access sustainability-focused Keats module at King’s look like?
- How can King’s Sustainability improve its communications to engage with more students?
- How can King’s encourage students to have more conversations about sustainability?
You can choose the topic which most interests you to discuss with others from the King’s community and develop actions to take steps to solve the issue.
There is potential to work with and be supported by the Sustainability Team after this hackathon event concludes, if you would like to put your ideas/solutions into action.
#MakeADifference #TakeAction #KCLSustainable #SDG11
Students come to King’s with differing experiences of sustainability and climate education and can be unclear as to how these issues relate to their chosen subject. The students and education CAN sub-group have been working to identify opportunities both within and outside of the curriculum to provide students with the skills and knowledge to engage with climate action/sustainability during and beyond their time at King’s.
This panel discussion is an opportunity to share ideas for best practice, identify opportunities for embedding sustainability and climate action within student life and education at King’s and to prompt actions.
The panel will be made up of Senior Leaders, students at King’s and an an external speaker. The panel will discuss examples of good practice of how to effectively embed sustainability and climate action within the curriculum, what kinds of extracurricular opportunities could be offered to King’s students to enable them to engage with climate action, and how can sustainable lifestyles and climate action could be made more appealing and accessible for students.
Members of the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions via the chatbox and through a Padlet which will be used before, during and after the event to gather ideas, questions and suggested actions from the audience.
- 26th (5:30pm) – Sweet & Sustainable: Fairtrade vegan gluten-free chocolate brownie baking class with King’s Food
In this short baking class, learn from the King’s Food Chefs how to make their much loved Fairtrade, vegan, gluten free chocolate brownies! Recipe & ingredients list to follow once signed up! #KCLSustainable
Climate Campaigning workshop with Hope for the Future, Thursday 19th November, 10:00-12:00
Hope for the Future is a climate charity which equips communities, groups and individuals across the country to communicate the urgency of climate change with their local politicians. In this training session they will provide you with the skills to build relationships with elected representatives on climate change, including understanding values across the political spectrum, framing ‘asks’ for the best response, and using effective conversation techniques.This will be the first of two events. Next term (date TBC) we will hold a second workshop to help you apply these skills to specific issues in a ‘hackathon’-style event.
Fair Energy Campaign Lunch & Learn, Wednesday 11th November, 12:30-13:30
The Citizens UK Fair Energy Campaign is an exciting opportunity to help lead a new campaign at King’s fighting for inclusive climate justice by helping communities switch to fair and green energy suppliers.The Fair Energy team, led by King’s students, are looking to build a team who will help peers and communities around King’s to switch energy suppliers, saving money and cutting carbon emissions in the process. This team will likely be a major component of a nationwide campaign, the aim of which is to put pressure on the Big Six energy suppliers to abandon exploitative pricing policies and offer renewable tariffs. Watch the Lunch & Learn back to find out more about the issue and how you can support the Fair Energy movement. Contact fairenergy@citizensuk.org to join the movement.
Past Student-led events:
KCL EcoSoc, 15th December: Live cook-along with celebrity chef Max La Manna
EcoSoc is thrilled to announce that we have celebrity plant-based chef Max La Manna coming to do a virtual LIVE cook along on the 15th of December!
Max will be showing us all how to cook a delicious plant-based winter recipe for dinner while we follow along at home. After this, there will be a Q&A segment where you will have the opportunity to ask him any questions you may have! With this event, we hope to introduce people to low-waste cooking, while also showing them a scrumptious new recipe they can add to their repertoire!
Details:
Where: Zoom (register your interest to receive the link)
When: 15th of December at 18:00 pm GMT
So please register your interest in order to receive all the necessary information including the ingredient list and the Zoom link beforehand! We can’t wait to see you all there!