I was invited to the recent COP28 summit and spent a week’s trip in the Persian Gulf, in particular Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I attended a series of talks at the education summit due to our company’s – Oxbridge Global Connect – involvement in climate education, which for the past summer we have been testing our carbon management curriculum and impact investment programme at Churchill College, Cambridge.
COP28 really impressed me with the vast vision and investment that the Saudi states put into the climate action. This year’s COP was especially impressive with a concluding agreement to accelerate and substantially reduce greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide, such as methane by 2030. COP28 came to the consensus that adaptation finance will have to significantly increase beyond the mandated doubling for 2025.
For climate education, the UAE Ministry of Education, co-organised with the Greening Education Partnership, to establish an inaugural Greening Education Hub, to generate opportunities for actions on greening school, curriculum and the capacities of ESG education.
My favourite COP28 pavilion was the Saudi Pavilion. The creation of the surrounding space was very unique with the showcasing of cutting-edge technologies and groundbreaking strategies of Saudi reverse osmosis technology and desalination, for example.
The 2023 summit overall, really inspired my team to continue work on shaping their ESG curriculum by analysing benchmarks, best practices, principles and solutions to align further to global regulatory frameworks and the green financial market.
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