BEIJING, Jan. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- January
2022 marks the third year since
Tsinghua University initiated the Global Alliance of Universities
(GAUC) in 2019 in Davos,
Switzerland during the annual meeting of the World Economic
Forum. Established in May 2019,
GAUC's mission is to advance climate change solutions through
research, education, and public outreach, and to partner with
industry, non-profit and government organizations to promote rapid
implementation on a local and global scale by promoting exchange
and cooperation among member universities.
Focusing on promoting joint research, talent cultivation, campus
action, social implementation, and public engagement on climate
change, GAUC has launched a series of projects, such as the GAUC
Graduate Forum. Against the backdrop of climate emergency, it has
been upgraded to the Global Youth Summit on Net-Zero Future
(Climate x Summit), to undertake a more active role in mobilizing
youth leadership.
In November 2021, on Youth and
Public Empowerment Day of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference
(COP26), the award ceremony of the
Climate x Summit was held simultaneously at Tsinghua University in
Beijing and COP26 in Glasgow. Hosted by GAUC with the support of
its 15 member universities in 9 countries on 6 continents, the
one-week Summit, presented a total of 30 events, attracted over 350
youth submissions from 6 continents with over 125 million global
participants.
The centerpiece of the Climate x Summit was the "Three Tracks",
comprised of a climate research competition (Academic Track)
co-organized by Columbia University,
the University of Oxford, Yale University and Tsinghua University; a
mini-hackathon (Action Track) for climate change solutions
organized by Imperial College London; and a youth climate messaging
project (Voice Track) organized by the University of Cambridge.
"The question of how to deal with climate change and mitigate
natural disaster risks has become a serious issue for all
countries, which requires the collective efforts of the entire
global community. This decade is an extremely important period in
the history of humanity, as it will determine whether we can
achieve a carbon-neutral future. Young people play a vital role in
achieving this goal," said Qiu Yong,
the President of Tsinghua University and Founding Chair of
GAUC.
"It's critically important for younger generations to take the
lead and make their voices heard in this race to zero carbon to
protect the future of the planet," said Minouche Shafik, Co-Chair of GAUC and Director
of London School of Economics and Political
Science. "Universities prepare the leaders of tomorrow, and
students have been vocal advocates for urgent action at
universities and in their later professional lives."
Representatives from GAUC member universities joined, either
online or offline in Glasgow, and
together witnessed new ideas, reflections and solutions of youth on
climate change. During the award ceremony, student representatives
from GAUC universities made the "Global Youth Climate Declaration."
Inspired by the Climate x Summit, the participants from the Voice
Track initiated the declaration and gathered modifications and
signatures from youth across six continents, aiming to inspire more
youth to take part in climate action.
In 2019 and 2020, the GAUC Graduate Forum offered a global
platform to exchange climate research discoveries for over 400
postgraduates from over 50 universities, and received recognition
from world climate leaders such as UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres and the UNFCCC ESG
Patricia Espinosa.
For more information, please visit Tsinghua University and
GAUC.
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