December 17, 2025

• Campus News

President Ed Feasel attends the "Charting New Horizons for Education for Sustainable Development" conference in Hanover, Germany

An urgent question echoed across three continents this fall: how can education contribute to humanity living more sustainably on an imperiled planet?

In September, members of the Soka community explored it on campus as part of a global ethical stocktake (GES) dialogue. In November, world leaders debated it in Belém, Brazil at COP30 - the United Nations Climate Change Conference - where voices from SUA were also highlighted in the global conversation about climate action. That same week, President Ed Feasel presented SUA's response to this urgent question at an international gathering of educators and policymakers in Germany. These parallel efforts represent SUA's deepening collaboration with Earth Charter International, reinforcing sustainability as a defining institutional commitment.

The Campus Conversation

On September 17, more than 50 students, staff, and faculty gathered in the Student Affairs lobby for a self-organized GES dialogue, hosted by the Soka Institute for Global Solutions (SIGS) in partnership with the Campus Sustainability Committee. The event was held in response to the COP30 presidency's call to organize local dialogues and encourage ethical climate action in the run-up to COP30.

SIGS Managing Director Tetsushi Ogata shared opening remarks, followed by a video message from Mirian Vilela, executive director of Earth Charter International and 2024 Soka Global Citizen Award recipient. Vilela thanked the SUA community for its ongoing partnership and reminded attendees of the urgency and hope in collective global climate action.

Noting that this was the first time in history a global ethical stocktake had been introduced as part of the lead-up to a COP, Vilela said that the opportunity for so many students and non-governmental actors to contribute to the process was also a first. She encouraged participants to recognize the significance of their GES dialogue at SUA before posing the following questions: "What are the values and principles needed? What are the ethical dimensions to address the climate crisis? What are the instruments we have in our own hands to help us address it?"

Students who traveled in August as part of the first Soka Amazon Sustainability Study Tour, an intensive non-credit experience sponsored by SIGS in partnership with the Soka Amazon Institute, then shared what they learned from their visit to Manaus, Brazil. They spoke about feeling a greater sense of urgency regarding the local impacts of climate change and shared their appreciation for how immersing themselves in the Amazon served as a mirror, revealing similar issues facing their own communities.

Soka students engage in a discussion at the GES dialogue, hosted by the Soka Institute for Global Solutions in partnership with the Campus Sustainability Committee.

In group dialogues, participants explored how their lives, habits, and commitments intersect with climate justice, traditional ecological knowledge, planetary consciousness, and ways communities can reimagine sustainability.

"The GES dialogue organized by SIGS was an inspiring and thought-provoking event," said Nico Konyk '29. "It was so cool to hear firsthand what the group of Soka students who traveled to the Amazon rainforest learned during their study trip."

The questions raised at SUA became part of a wider conversation that culminated in the university's inclusion in the GES pavilion at COP30 in Brazil. The pavilion showcased outcomes from six regional dialogues worldwide, integrating scientific and traditional knowledge. SUA's voices became an integral part of the world's efforts to take stock, achieve ethical clarity, and open new pathways toward an equitable, fossil-fuel-free future.

A summary of SUA's GES dialogue on display in the GES pavilion at COP30 in Brazil.

SUA's Climate Leadership on the Global Stage

While SUA student voices were reaching COP30, President Feasel delivered a keynote at the "Charting New Horizons for Education for Sustainable Development" conference in Hanover, Germany, co-organized by VolkswagenStiftung, the German Commission for UNESCO, and the German Rectors' Conference. Feasel's address, "Creating Synergy Between Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED): The Case of Soka University of America," offered a hopeful example of how universities can embed sustainability and global citizenship in their daily operations, curriculum, and institutional culture.

"At SUA," Feasel said, "ESD and GCED efforts are mutually reinforcing, and we attempt to focus on all levels of community: our campus, city, country, and global communities."

Feasel explained how SUA's founding values of wisdom, courage, and compassion have shaped the ethical foundation of its culture of global citizenship, which prepares students to understand and engage with global issues. He demonstrated how these values align with the four areas of global citizenship education - peace, human rights, sustainability, and development - which in turn map onto the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, providing students with an ethical foundation and practical pathways for contributing to peace and global sustainability.

Feasel highlighted three key institutional efforts to show how SUA's integrated approach to education for sustainable development and global citizenship dates back to the university's founding in 2001. First, he introduced SUA's annual Learning Cluster, an intensive three-and-a-half-week January program that allows faculty and groups of up to 12 students to co-design courses about real-world problems and explore solutions together. Since its founding, SUA has offered more than 500 learning clusters, many focused on global citizenship and sustainability. "These research seminars," Feasel explained, "force students to examine research questions very early in their academic life to develop a spirit of inquiry and the ability to apply knowledge to address issues and seek solutions."

Feasel then discussed SUA's ongoing engagement with the STARS program - the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System created by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. He outlined the efforts of the university-wide sustainability committee, comprising faculty, students, and staff, who lead activities, information gathering, and campus educational and promotion efforts related to the STARS program. These activities led to the university regaining Silver status in 2025 after the rating expired in 2021 when the pandemic prevented continued participation.

The STARS framework, Feasel noted, has encouraged a holistic view of sustainability that encompasses academics, engagement, operations, and leadership. "The SUA community is focused and determined to achieve Gold status on our next submission," said Feasel.

Participants gathered onstage at the "Charting New Horizons for Education for Sustainable Development" conference in Hanover, Germany.

Finally, Feasel described SUA's growing network of partnerships to address sustainability, including memoranda of understanding with the Soka Amazon Institute in Brazil and Earth Charter International in Costa Rica. The first agreement with the Soka Amazon Institute includes research and teaching opportunities for faculty and an annual study tour for students. SUA has also partnered with the State University of Amazonas and the Federal University of Amazonas as part of this annual study tour, and will continue to look for additional exchange opportunities in the region for students and faculty.

The second agreement, with Earth Charter International, includes three key activities. Every year, Earth Charter International faculty provide sustainability courses to students in the fall and online certificate courses for selected faculty, staff, and alumni in the spring. SUA also sends an annual Learning Cluster to the Earth Charter International offices on the University for Peace campus in Costa Rica. The first Learning Cluster, "Sustainability after Colonialism: The Costa Rica Example," was led by Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Latin American Studies Ian Read and 12 students last January. These new partnerships exemplify SUA's belief that education for sustainability must be rooted in dialogue with local communities around the world.

By sharing SUA's experience with an international audience of educators, researchers, and policymakers, Feasel affirmed his conviction that universities can help build a different future, underscoring a central message that also guided the GES dialogue on campus: sustainability is not only a technocratic or political challenge, but a question of human dignity, justice, and collective responsibility. In closing, Feasel announced that the 2026 Earth Charter Youth Summit co-sponsored by Earth Charter International and SUA will be held on Soka's campus with over 100 international youth representatives attending next July.

A visual snapshot from President Feasel's keynote in Germany, illustrating how SUA integrates global citizenship education, sustainability, and value-creating education to foster leaders who initiate change. Graphic recording by Eva Feuchter / www.graphicrecording.events

"Through our ongoing collaboration with partners like the Soka Amazon Institute and Earth Charter International, and by educating students as global citizens committed to leading contributive lives," Feasel said, "SUA will continue expanding our contributions to the ethical, imaginative, and practical work needed to build a more sustainable and humane future for all life on Earth."

The work begun in September's campus dialogue and advanced at conferences in Germany and Brazil continues. SUA's commitment to sustainability plays out daily in classrooms, partnerships, and students' lives, preparing the next generation to address the defining challenge of our time.