As the world struggles to get global warming under control, Concordia’s leading climate change researchers are joining thousands of nation heads, scientists and policymakers in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, for this year’s United Nations climate summit.
This 27th annual UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, began November 6. For two weeks, diplomats and leaders will gather for negotiations aimed at achieving commitments to limit global temperature increases.
At last year’s summit in Scotland, which Concordia representatives also attended, countries agreed they must immediately do more to prevent a dangerous rise in global temperatures. This year, discussions both about how to measure states’ pledges and who should pay the costs of global warming are expected to dominate the conference.
Concordia at COP27
With Concordia’s commitment to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2020, the university has shown that it takes seriously its social responsibility for making our world more sustainable and equitable.
Concordia placed among the best 100 universities internationally in the 2022 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which tracks the progress of the international higher education sector toward helping to achieve the SDGs.
Concordia was also named fifth best in the world and second in Canada in the category of Sustainable Cities and Communities, which measures universities’ sustainability research, role in supporting arts and heritage and internal sustainable practices.
The university’s delegation to COP27 includes some of the world’s leading voices at the forefront of global climate and sustainability conversations.
They include Matthias Fritsch, philosophy professor in the Faculty of Arts and Science, Carmela Cucuzzella, Concordia University Research Chair in Integrated Design and Sustainability for the Built Environment (Tier 2), and Mostafa Saad, a PhD candidate in building engineering at the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science.