Posted December 6, 2019, and modified Dec. 12 on Michigan Tech News
Reprinted here with permission
Seven Michigan Tech students from a range of academic disciplines have presented research and observed negotiations at the global conference on climate change held from Dec. 2 to Dec. 13, 2019, in Madrid, Spain.
Earlier this year Michigan Technological University was granted official observer status to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP25).
Michigan Tech sent these seven students to the global climate change conference in Madrid to present research findings related to four of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG): SDG 6, clean water and sanitation; SDG 7, affordable and clean energy; SDG 9, industry, innovation and infrastructure; and SDG 11, sustainable cities and communities. The students are also in Madrid to observe negotiations between nations concerning the threats climate change poses to humanity.
COP25 brings together policy makers, nongovernmental organizations and scientists. Originally slated to take place in Chile, the conference was moved to Madrid because of social unrest in Santiago. Sarah Green, professor of chemistry and scientific reviewer of the UN’s Sixth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6), leads the group.
Green added, "These UNFCCC meetings are where science is translated into policy. Students are able to see this firsthand by observing the actual negotiating sessions."
The students attending COP25 are Adewale Adesanya, doctoral student in environmental and energy policy; Jessica Daignault, doctoral student in civil engineering; William Lytle, doctoral student in environmental and energy policy; Alexis Pascaris, master’s student in environmental and energy policy; Shardul Tiwari, doctoral student in environmental and energy policy; Kenny Larson, doctoral student in environmental engineering; and Karuna Rana, master’s student in environmental and energy policy. Also attending is Bruce Woodry, a Michigan Tech alumnus and CEO of Sigma Capital Group. Gabriel Ahrendt, master’s student in geology, was selected to attend the conference and participated in the research and presentation development, but was unable to go to Madrid when his flights to Chile could not be reimbursed.
The COP25 Experience
The students are part of a university consortium with Clark University, Colorado State University, Monash University in Australia, University of Indiana, Scripps Institute and the Mountain Institute.
On Dec. 3, some of the Michigan Tech students presented research, in partnership with students from Colorado State and Clark, in support of SDG 11. Their presentation focused on sustainability case studies they examined, from the residential to the community scale: Michigan Tech’s Sustainability Demonstration House; the Aldo Leopold Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin; Artefact in Glücksburg, Germany; and a middle class community Lake County, Illinois.
Others of the Michigan Tech contingent will present two case studies about renewable energy access at Clark University and Colorado State, and about a project to build microgrids out of solar panels in rural Rwanda. The students also participated in a press conference.
"Climate change, a global issue, requires cooperation and coordination with a multitude of actors and policy makers," Tiwari said. "COP25 gives the ideal platform for the actors to negotiate the targets for the global goal. Climate change mitigation and adaptation does not have to be a zero-sum game where one group’s losses profit another group."
Three of the students attending COP25 are also blogging about their experiences. Visit mtu.edu/unscripted to read more.
Inset photo: Sarah Green, Michigan Tech professor of chemistry and scientific reviewer of the UN’s Sixth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6). (Photo courtesy Michigan Tech University)
* Kelley Christensen, author of this article, is a Michigan Tech Science and Technology Publications Writer.
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