The GAUC Global Youth Summit on Net-Zero Future (Climate x Summit) officially opens Monday, building momentum towards the COP26 by mobilizing the climate action from youth and higher education.
Watch the opening ceremony here: https://www.facebook.com/cgtnamerica/posts/4425012024260702
Hosted by the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC), the Climate x Summit is a collective endeavor by GAUC’s 15 member universities, with the strategic partnership of COP26 Universities Network, a growing group of around 80 universities in the UK, the hosting country of the COP26.
Xie Zhenhua, Special Envoy on Climate Change Affairs, China delivered speech at the opening ceremony. Xie expressed his admiration in seeing, for the third year in a row, the cooperation between world leading universities to unite their powers to provide a platform for global youth to cooperate and mobilize their talents to achieve a zero-carbon future.
Xie said youth plays an extremely important role in achieving carbon neutrality goals.
"The participation of more youth in the cause of addressing climate change is essential for the world to embrace a carbon neutrality future and embark on a long-term sustainable development path," Xie added.
Tsinghua University President Qiu Yong also delivered a speech.
"I hope that everyone takes advantage of this exchange and learning opportunity to interact in-depth, enlighten each other, improve together, and empower themselves," Yong said in his speech.
Minouche Shafik, Co-Chair of GAUC and Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science made a speech at the at the opening ceremony.
“It's critically important for younger generations to take on a lead and make their voice heard in this race to zero carbon to protect the future of the planet, ” Minouche Shafik said.
ClimateX aims to help move the world towards a Net-Zero Carbon Future. The summit will be held from October 25 to 29, building on the momentum of global climate events scheduled for this fall, including the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).
The focus of the Climate x Summit is “Three Tracks”, including Academic Track, which is a climate research competition co-organized by Columbia University, the University of Oxford, Yale University and Tsinghua University; a youth voice project known as Voice Track, organized by the University of Cambridge; and Action Track for climate change solutions organized by Imperial College London.
Youth are expected to mobilize their collective power to pressure world leaders into policy action and spark awareness, education and potential solutions to reach global carbon neutrality through the Three Tracks.
GAUC was initiated in January 2019, when eight universities made a joint statement at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
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