The University of Exeter has announced a new partnership with the World Economic Forum to develop a new global initiative aimed at fixing the damage caused by global warming to the Arctic and Antarctic biospheres.

Funded by André and Rosalie Hoffmann, of whom the former is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Board of Trustees, the Hoffmann Fellowship Programme will “help build and drive collaborations between the World Economic Forum, the University of Exeter, Arctic Basecamp and external stakeholders to improve science-based communication and multi-stakeholder collaboration in support of the poles.” According to the job description of the post, the fellow will be responsible for devising a strategy for “setting up a World Economic Forum initiative on the poles that builds on existing work” by identifying the several “actors and perspectives” involved, and assessing “current data availability on polar issues and decision maker needs for effective risk analytics, [scientific] communications and engagement opportunities for global action”.

The new Hoffman fellow will be expected to work closely with Professor Gail Whiteman from the University of Exeter Business School, who is also the founder of Arctic Basecamp, in order to “bring together leading voices and perspectives from science, indigenous peoples, local communities, industry leaders, innovators and youth and develop a global strategy for the poles that responds and provides solutions to the systemic risks brought about by the climate crisis.”

With the polar regions of our planet warming up at an alarming rate, and especially the arctic region warming up four times faster than the global average and Greenland’s melting ice sheets predicted to cause a rapid sea level rise, we can only hope that it is not too late yet to save the planet and that our university will follow this up with more such initiatives.