Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi launches Youth COP

The Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi launched the SUAD Youth COP in an online webinar that brought together more than 700 registered participants from 85 countries and a panel of climate leaders from the North and play a key role.

In his opening address, Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Chairman of the University Board of Trustees, emphasized the importance of youth empowerment and its role in global transformation.

She reaffirmed the UAE’s commitment to COP28 and to engaging youth in the process, and appointed Shamma bint Suhail Faris Al Mazrui, Minister of Community Development and Vice-President of the Arab Youth Center, as COP28 Youth Climate Advocate.

She concluded by praising academic universities such as Université de la Cité in Paris, France, and the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil, and encouraged them to continue to engage in climate discussions.

Prof. Silvia Serrano, Vice-Chancellor of Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, welcomed attendees to the event, organized in partnership with Université Paris-Cité (France), Universidade Federal Do Cerea (Brazil) and YOUNGO, the official youth constituency of the United Nations United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Professor Serrano emphasized that, as a multinational Emirati-French institution of higher education, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi is in a key position to engage students and youth around the world in dialogue to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The SUAD Youth COP is an initiative organized by Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi as part of its Go Green 2023 and in alignment with the UAE Year of Sustainable Development and the upcoming COP28.

The Youth COP aims to engage students from around the world in discussions at COP28 through mock negotiations, where students will prepare an ambitious and comprehensive paper addressing pressing topics around oceans, loss and damage mechanisms, and energy transition.

25 teams (75 students) will collaborate on climate-related topics in an informative, immersive negotiation event. Selected students will develop a joint document that will become “Sorbonne Abu Dhabi University’s Call to Action for Future Generations”, which will be presented by the two winning teams at COP28.