A recent survey by a group of universities reveals that almost 60% of young people are terrified, depressed by the climate crisis, and their fear about climate change is negatively affecting their daily lives. Climate change is not just a crisis, but an emergency: to address it, and explore the potentials of young people, this Side Event is proposed in the frame of All4Climate and Pre-COP26, taking place on 28th September 2021 in Italy.
All professionals in the sector are encouraged to participate in this Pre-COP26 Side Event, so that they may gain more knowledge and raise awareness on the discussed topics, thanks to high-level presentations by international leading experts: Bhanu Neupane – UNESCO, Rajendra Shende – TERRE Policy Centre, Federico Riboldi – City of Casale Monferrato, Marco Buoni – Centro Studi Galileo, Paolo Buoni – Renewable Energy Institute.
To register, please visit: bit.ly/RegisterEventPreCOP
28th September 2021
11 am – 12.30 pm CET
“Smart Campus Cloud Network – A Digital Network of Universities, for Not Zero-Net Zero”: this All4Climate and Pre-COP26 Side Event will be held in the City of Casale Monferrato, Italy’s historical Capital of Refrigeration, and headquarters to Centro Studi Galileo (CSG) – the EU’s leading Training Centre for the HVAC/R Sector, in partnership with TERRE Policy Centre (TERRE) – the global non-profit, non-partisan and independent organisation dedicated to sustainable solutions to our development imperatives. CSG and TERRE have a longstanding and fruitful collaboration, mainly focusing on capacity building of young people. UNESCO-Paris is the key partner with the TERRE Policy Centre. Further support to the Event is given by the Renewable Energy Institute, promoting best practices in renewable energy since 1975.
This Event has been selected by the All4Climate Commission among number of proposals received and focuses on Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN), one of the flagship projects of the TERRE Policy Centre. SCCN is a digital network of 350+ universities and colleges that promotes the practical and hands-on activities on campus to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to mitigate climate change and conserve biodiversity. The overall objective of the project is to upskill the students (18-24 years of age) and faculty in mainstreaming SDGs in the education system through practical work on campus and learning by doing and sharing the results digitally. Thus, SCCN advocates making the campus a laboratory to localise SDGs. UNESCO-Paris is the key partner with the project. GORD (Gulf Organisation of Research and Development)in Qatar, AICTE, UGC of India’s Ministry of education and Climate Reality are some of the other partners. TERRE also works closely with ECOSOC, UNEP, IUCN and UNFCCC and is accredited with them with consultative status.
The recent activity under SCCN is ‘Not-Zero Net-Zero’, for which 250+ Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) have pledged to initiate work to make campuses carbon neutral. The network encourages educational institutes to prioritise the initiatives in their campuses related to energy efficiency, waste to energy, green buildings, water Conservation and water use efficiency, e-waste management, single-use plastic free campuses, outdoor air quality monitoring, conservation of biodiversity among others. SCCN has also educated young people around the world on mitigating climate change and conserving biodiversity through the International E-Internship Program. SCCN have developed campus-guidelines for jump-starting SDGs related activities on water efficiency, landscape and single-use plastic free campuses. ‘Not Zero-Net Zero’ is the movement that supports the recommendations proposed by the IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Training and education are fundamental across all sectors; spreading knowledge while sharing best practices in HVAC/R has been CSG and REI’s aim since 1975, collaborating with UN Agencies on projects in 140+ countries. The SCCN, CSG and REI work together relentlessly towards higher energy efficiency, awareness and safeguarding the environment, safety and equality in the workplace among others.