Soka University of America Joining the “Global Mutirão” Toward COP30

As COP30 rapidly approaches, students, faculty and staff at Soka University of America come together to participate in a Global Ethical Stocktake Initiative dialogue, co-hosted by Soka Institute for Global Solutions and the Campus Sustainability Committee in partnership with the Earth Charter International.

On Wednesday, September 17, more than 50 students, faculty, and staff gathered to engage in a meaningful dialogue on the current state of the climate crisis and the campus community’s role in creating positive change. Managing Director of SIGS, Tetsushi Ogata, opened the event by emphasizing sustainability as a core pillar of global citizenship education and one of the key projects of SIGS. He highlighted several recent sustainability initiatives led by the institute, including a growing collaboration with Earth Charter International (ECI). Through the official partnership between the university and ECI, SIGS sponsors SUA students, staff, and alumni to take ECI’s online sustainability courses. Moreover, SUA will host the Earth Charter Youth Conference at SUA in July 2026.

Ogata’s introduction was followed by a video message from Mirian Vilela, ECI Executive Director. Vilela provided background on the Global Ethical Stocktake (GES) Initiative, a process initiated by the COP presidency, describing it as the first opportunity for individuals to directly participate in the UN Climate Change Conferences (COP). The GES Initiative as a global “mutirão” movement is based on a Brazilian Indigenous concept that seeks to translate global climate commitments into local action by fostering changes in values, behaviors, and responsibilities through community dialogues. These conversations create space for ethical perspectives of the local to shape and inform global climate solutions. “Ethics drives actions. Ethics drives decisions, and it also helps us to understand and expand our responsibilities and act upon it,” Vilela emphasized in her message.

The event also highlighted campus voices through presentations by the Soka Amazon Sustainability Study Tour (SASST) and the Sustainability Committee. SASST members shared reflections from their recent trip to Manaus, Brazil, in the last week of August, detailing the activities they participated in, the conversations they engaged in, and the insights gained from these experiences. During the tour, they visited the Soka Amazon Institute and Catalão and Kambeba indigenous communities. A key takeaway from their report was the noticeable gap between academic research and the lived experiences of local communities – an observation that reinforces the importance of direct engagement and ethical reflections like those encouraged by the GES Initiative.

The Sustainability Committee followed with a presentation on SUA’s recent sustainability progress, which has been recognized by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). This year, SUA received a Silver rating from AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), reflecting the reengagement with STARS after the pandemic. Inter-campus collaboration, outreach and communication with the campus community, staff-engagement and training, and community partnership have significantly increased SUA’s engagement performance. The Committee also outlined further steps for improvement in their activities.

The centerpiece of the event was the group dialogue session, where participants divided into five groups to reflect on the five questions outlined in the GES guidelines. The discussions were structured into two 30-minute rounds and facilitated by SUA professors George Busenberg, Chika Esiobu, Marie Nydam, Tetsushi Ogata, and Ian Read, with each facilitator guiding conversation around each of the five GES questions.

Across all groups, a recurring theme emerged: the challenges to sustainable development are deeply rooted in political and economic systems that shape individual values and choices. These systemic structures often make it difficult to move beyond immediate personal needs and address the broader, urgent needs of the global community. However, while actions that can be taken outside of national and economic structures may be limited, participants found hope and encouragement through shared creativity and personal experiences. Cultural heritage – such as those preserved and celebrated through national traditions or religious and philosophical teachings that emphasize the interconnectedness of life — and access (or lack of access) to natural spaces were identified as key assets in our everyday life in shaping our awareness of sustainability.

These personal and communal experiences helped inform and inspire potential solutions to the ongoing climate crisis. Among the proposed actions were fostering more discussions on sustainability in education; rethinking the dominant definitions of development by replacing GDP with indicators that reflect social justice and ecological well-being; amplifying the leadership of Indigenous peoples and developing nations; and bringing the Earth Charter’s ethical principles such as “unity in diversity,” “planetary consciousness,” and “one Earth community” into our immediate environment.

The GES dialogue event not only deepened the campus community’s understanding of the climate crisis but also empowered participants to see themselves as active agents of climate actions. As SUA prepares to host the Earth Charter Youth Conference in 2026, the conversations sparked by this dialogue serve as a strong foundation for continued reflection, action, and leadership in the global sustainability engagement.