Students Organizing for Sustainability International

The organization is a member of the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, the Student Action Group (HESI-SAG), a partnership between various United Nations entities and institutions of higher education. It also works with its partners to increase student representation at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties annual conferences, and published a “Green Skills and Green Jobs” report, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme. The report was presented at the UN High-Level Political Forum in July 2024. ^{2 3}

Background

Students Organizing for Sustainability International (SOS-International) is a left-of-center environmentalist network hosted on a rotating basis by its member organizations. As of January 2026, SOS-International is hosted by Students Organising for Sustainability U.K. (SOS-UK), a student-led organization that promotes left-of-center environmentalist policies in education. ^{1 4}

SOS-UK; the National Union of Students (NUS), a university-student activist group based in the United Kingdom that advocates for increased economic welfare for students as well as left-of-center LGBT policies; and DSF, the largest student organization in Denmark, co-founded SOS-International. ^{1 4 5 6}

SOS-International convenes international and national student-led and student-focused, organizations with a focus on “sustainability and social justice.” One of the main goals of SOS-International is to “amplify” student voices to “influence systemic change.” ¹

United Nations Affiliation

Students Organizing for Sustainability International is a member of the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, the Student Action Group (HESI-SAG), a partnership between various United Nations entities and higher education institutions. Through this partnership, SOS-International has represented its members at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. ²

SOS-International also works with its partners to increase student representation at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties annual conferences. The organization published a “Green Skills and Green Jobs” report in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme as part of the Green Jobs for Youth Pact, a collaborative initiative of the International Labour Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, and the United Nations Environment Programme. The report was presented at the UN High-Level Political Forum in July 2024. ^{2 3}

SOS-International offers organizations that focus on sustainability and education learning experiences via workshops, events, and consultancy. ²

Affiliated Organizations

Member organizations of Students Organizing for Sustainability International include student organizations, such as the Union of Students in Ireland, the All-Africa Students Union, and the European Students’ Union. ⁷

Environmental organizations partnered with SOS-International include SOS-UK; Care About Climate, an environmental organization that signed a petition in support of the Green New Deal and has opposed the use of zero-carbon nuclear energy; and Earth Day, a global environmentalist event celebrated on April 22, created by the Earth Day Network. Earth Day was created as a day to organize activists to host local protests advocating for environmentalist policies. ^{7 8 9}

People

The co-founder of Students Organizing for Sustainability International and founder of SOS-UK, is Jamie Agombar, who worked for the National Union of Students for just under 16 years. While working at NUS, Agombar was head of sustainability from January 2014 until September 2019, when he left the organization. He is also the chair of the board of trustees at the Harmony Project, an environmental education organization that promotes “learning from nature” in education. ^{10 11}

The managing director of SOS-International, as of January 2026, is Quinn Runkle, who is also the director of campaigns and advocacy at SOS-UK. Runkle is a trustee at the National Association for Environmental Education and worked at the National Union of Students in the United Kingdom from October 2014 until September 2019. ¹²