UCC students and researchers are set to attend the annual United Nations COP27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt this month.
The summit aims to bring together nations to discuss the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement to assess global efforts to limit the levels of global warming and climate change.
Hannah Daly, Professor in Sustainable Energy and Energy Systems Modelling at UCC and MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, who will be attending COP27 as part of the UCC delegation, said:
“Against a backdrop of worsening impacts of climate change at home and across the world, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of this climate summit. While countries have made strong commitments to decarbonisation, that ambition is being realised only at a snail’s pace relative to what is necessary. This will be the COP of implementation: governments, businesses and civil society must come together to collaborate on the millions of individual actions essential to drive emissions down rapidly.”
Included in the delegation is Natasha Sutton, an undergraduate from UCC’s School of Law and the UCC Students’ Union Environmental & Sustainability Representative. She said:
“I believe it is incredibly important that young people be at the forefront of discussions around climate destruction etc. UCC are sending a very young delegation which reflects on the fact that they will be affected by climate change in years to come - and are already affected. My expectations of COP are that hopefully the seeds can be sown for a more global community effort in achieving the SDG's and alleviating to some respect the damage done. It is my expectation that a wide variety of voices will be listened to and their opinions acted on. I hope to immerse myself in COP as much as possible. I look forward to meeting people of different backgrounds, interests etc. and collaborating towards a sustainable future,” she said."
