Youth Cop 29 - students speak up for the planet

Shivasri Yr 12 reports from the Youth Summit

Students seated at tables in large sunny room debating

This November COP 29 took place In Baku, Azerbaijan. Two hundred countries attempted to reach an agreement on CO2 reduction and building a $300bn fund for developing countries. Meanwhile on 22 November a Youth COP assembled to hear the voices of under 18s in Wandsworth, in a magnificent setting provided by Wandsworth Council at the Royal College of Art, Battersea.

This was an event suggested by Graveney as part of our drive for improved Sustainability, Climate Change and Environment Education. Students from Graveney and St John Bosco College represented Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, the EU, the Marshall Islands, Uganda, the UK and USA. Many Wandsworth schools were invited and hopefully more will come next year.

Armed with a formal agenda, the event began with the opening statements from each country, the most memorable being Azerbaijan with a controversial argument that they would only reduce production of oil and gas when demand from other countries falls.
The following debate established three points: Bangladesh and the Marshall island asking the other countries for help them transition and adapt; the US, China and Azerbaijan being targeted to reduce fossil fuels and the EU making declarations it probably would not be able to fulfil.

Next were the negotiations, which caused a lot of problems, running into overtime - just like the real COP.
The Oceans Group wanted all countries to pay taxes to protect the oceans, while the Cities Group decided on a worldwide blackout for a minute to demonstrate how much energy could be saved. The Forest and Food Group wanted more solar panels to stop deforestation, but was questioned by Bangladesh on where to place them. And finally, the Energy Group decided on ifs, with Azerbaijan needing prompting to accept a 15% reduction of fossil fuel production if the US supported them economically.

The event gave all students a very powerful experience about international negotiations on this most important global issue. They ranged from year 8 - year 12, some from the LEAF eco-group, others from AS Level Geography and AS Politics.