果冻影院

The model COP26, organised by the Sustainable 果冻影院 team as part of the university鈥檚 Generation One climate action campaign, enabled students to learn more about climate and biodiversity issues and explore the complex financial, geopolitical and diplomatic tensions and constraints that negotiators will have to overcome to achieve legally binding agreements that countries are prepared to sign up to.

The day-long online event was chaired by 果冻影院 Student Union Sustainability Officer Johara Meyer, who urged participants to 鈥渁rgue, argue, argue because this is the issue of our lives.鈥�

70 students formed 12 delegations to represent the UK, Sweden, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, USA, Alliance of Small Island States, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, UNHCR, Greenpeace, the IMF and Shell Global to devise, present and vote on final resolutions.

Before getting round the table, the groups heard from former UN Environment Chief Scientist and former Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, Professor Jacqueline McGlade (果冻影院 Institute for Global Prosperity), a long-standing participant in COP summits.

Her advice to negotiators was to be clear about their best-case outcome, not put everything on the table at once and 鈥渢o have a backup position too鈥�. Professor McGlade warned they should stand their ground, but also put themselves in other people鈥檚 shoes and think from different perspectives. She said:

鈥淏e resilient, be stoic and stick to what you know, but be prepared to tell your story and describe what you know in different ways. When you鈥檙e negotiating with others you have to do your research and think, what鈥檚 their world like, how can I help them come over?鈥�

Students also listened to an address from the Executive Director of the Climate Action Society, Zi Han Xuan, who emphasised that individual actions and mobilising people across the planet in a collective movement are as important as holding politicians to account.

Over the next six hours, the teams mapped out their negotiating strategies and ways to convince other teams to vote for their preferred resolutions, with four negotiating rounds.

Students from 果冻影院鈥檚 United Nations Association Society, Climate Action Society and Green Economy Society acted as facilitators, ensuring conversations were inclusive. A student rapporteur added authenticity and drama to the day, with news headlines reflecting the tensions and heated debates, e.g., between corporates and those on the front line of climate change impacts.

As proceedings ran down to the wire, the seven ambitious resolutions finally passed were:

• Resolution 1: Annex 1 Parties (industrialised nations) must raise the minimum $100 billion per year (contribution to support net zero in lower- and middle-income countries) and should establish mechanisms to scale up funding to reach a total of $300 billion per year by 2050, among other things by tapping into the worldwide pool of private finance, to help less developed countries in their fight against climate change.
• Resolution 2:听Annex I countries should commit to net zero emissions by 2050, non-Annex听I听countries听should commit to net zero emissions by 2060.鈥�
• Resolution 3:听We should give protected status to 30% of natural areas to avoid听future听destruction.听Especially unique areas that are of high importance to the global听ecosystem听and听carbon system should be听protected, such as mangroves, the arctic, the听rainforests, and sea听kelp听forests
• Resolution 4:听Coal must be phased out by 2030 for Annex I, by 2040 for other major emitters,听and听by听2050 for the rest of the world.
• Resolution 5:听All countries should adopt India鈥檚 ambition: transition towards electric听vehicles听in听a听gradual manner with an interim target of 30% electrification of all new听vehicles sold by听2030.听Further听transition to ZEVs (zero emissions vehicles) should be market led.
• Resolution 6:鈥� All countries should determine their own path towards sustainable farming practices
• Resolution 7:听All countries must allow people fleeing from natural听disasters,听environmental听degradation, and听sea level rise to enter their countries and make their听new听homes there.

Professor Jacqui McGlade was invited to respond to the resolutions, along with three other members of 果冻影院鈥檚 team of observers who will be representing the university at COP26 - Professor Rodney Harrison (Institute of Archaeology), Dr Jerome Lewis (果冻影院 Anthropology) and Robbie Mallett (果冻影院 Earth Sciences).

They commended the resolutions, in particular for their focus on 鈥渢he extinction crisis鈥� as much as the climate crisis, and their humanitarian stance on immigration. Resolution 7 on the rights of migrants was highlighted though as an example of the beauty of 鈥減olicy without the politics鈥� versus the reality for politicians who want to be re-elected to see positive changes through.

Resolution 6 drew the strongest response, with Professor Jacquelinei McGlade suggesting the delegates should have been braver and experience showing that countries cannot be left to their own devices on an issue as fundamental as the impact of farming on climate.

果冻影院鈥檚 first Youth COP succeeded across the board as students experimented with negotiation tactics and styles, navigating a series of political, cultural, commercial, financial and diplomatic obstacles.

Chair and 果冻影院 Student Officer Johara Meyer reflected: 鈥淐OP26 isn鈥檛 the end, it鈥檚 one part of this process 鈥� potentially not even the one that鈥檚 going to have the biggest impact - and we鈥檙e going to have to continue fighting for that.鈥�

There was a strong takeaway too from Professor Jacqueline McGlade, who further demystified the process of arriving at global agreements by emphasising the critical input that academics will provide in Glasgow as the fortnight unfolds:

鈥�The role of scientists and researchers at COP26 will be to help politicians join the dots, because climate change is not one single issue, it鈥檚 diffuse and touches absolutely every single thing that we do. Whether it鈥檚 the food we eat, the transport we use, energy, how much water there is, the land and how we use it.

鈥淪ometimes you can find places where politicians, who are under a lot of pressure, can be given another avenue where, if you鈥檙e smart, they can contribute to the climate change challenge. It鈥檚 not selling out, it鈥檚 helping people find their way through their own complexity. Complexity is what this is all about.鈥�

Links

• 果冻影院 Youth COP student perspective
• 果冻影院 gives students new opportunitiies to tackle climate change
• 果冻影院 Generation One campaign
• Sustainable 果冻影院
• 果冻影院 representatives at COP26

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