The Talloires Declaration was created in October 1990 in Talloires, France. Jean Mayer, then president of Tufts University in Boston, called together 22 other university presidents and chancellors from universities throughout the world in order to express their concerns regarding the state of the world as well as prepare a document that identified key environmental actions that institutions of higher learning must take to prepare.

According to their organization, University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF), "Recognizing the shortage of specialists in environmental management and related fields, as well as the lack of comprehension by professionals in all fields of their effect on the environment and public health, this gathering defined the role of the university in the following way: "Universities educate most of the people who develop and manage society's institutions. For this reason, universities bear profound responsibilities to increase the awareness, knowledge, technologies, and tools to...