Tech Troop to Tackle Climate Challenge at COP28
A delegation of faculty, staff and students from Michigan Technological University will depart late this month for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The delegation includes 16 students from the College of Sciences and Arts and is led by Professors Mark Rouleau and Roman Sidortsov (both SS), Professor Emerita Sarah Green (Chem) and Adjunct Professor Shardul Tiwari (SS).
Known as COP, or Conference of the Parties, this event marks the 28th time that people from around the world will meet to fast-track the energy transition and slash emissions, transform climate finance and put nature, people, lives and livelihoods at the heart of climate action.
Michigan Tech's delegation will be at the center of the action as the collective co-hosts of a COP pavilion. The "Welcome to Just North and Beyond: A Pop-up University Pavilion" is a product of collaboration between American, British and Norwegian universities dedicated to achieving sustainable development through the lens of energy, environmental and climate justice.
The pavilion is organized by Michigan Tech; the University of Tromsø — the Arctic University of Norway; and the University of Sussex, U.K., and in collaboration with the European Union-funded JUSTNORTH Horizon 2020 project. It will bring a wealth of complementary knowledge, expertise and insights on and from northern regions deeply impacted by climate change.
“Our delegation to this year’s U.N. climate meeting really shows the strength and breadth of Michigan Tech’s energy transition and climate change work,” said Sidortsov, associate professor of energy policy. “We are working with colleagues at other universities to organize an exciting set of presentations, minicourses and press conferences highlighting their perspectives on climate, environmental and energy justice; policy; and governance.”
“It’s going to be exciting to spread the word on the work we’ve been doing on the potential for underground storage of hydroelectric power and how we can move communities off a dependence on carbon-based energy systems,” Sidortsov continued. “Presenting the work at a global conference like this, where there’s going to be people from all over the world, is exciting because they’ll see what we might be able to help them with toward transitioning to alternative energy sources. The work is new and is just starting to be implemented and proven in an actual installation, so the more people who see it, the more benefit it would be for everybody.”
This is Michigan Tech’s fourth COP. It is rare for a university to host a pavilion, and Tech is one of just a handful of universities with observer status and delegate privileges.
“We are the lead of a network of institutions and put forth a highly competitive proposal focused on energy, environmental and climate justice,” said Tiwari.
COP28 runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. If you are planning to be at the COP with blue zone access and would like to present at the pavilion, submit your idea.
Read the latest happenings from the delegation on the Huskies at the UN Climate Conference (COP) blog.