Last week 144 students from around the globe met online to debate the challenges of climate change and discuss resolutions made by Governments at the recent COP26 conference in Glasgow.
Hosted by The Grange School, the conference was organised in association with ‘Engage with China’ which is an educational charity that aims to build China literacy in UK schools.
Delegates joined the Model United Nations conference from a range of time zones, with over half the students taking part in China and others joining from schools in the UK, Australia and Ireland. The students spent two hours debating resolutions from the perspective of their allocated country and topics for discussion included phasing out fossil fuels, finance for vulnerable communities and carbon tax.
Tasked with navigating the complexities, challenges and realities of climate change, the President of the conference, Theo Innes who is a Year 11 student at The Grange School said, “The standard of debate was really high. I was particularly blown away by a delegate representing China who spoke so eloquently and persuasively about the challenges of phasing out coal on six million uneducated and impoverished people in mainland China.”
Based on the success of the conference and overwhelmingly positive feedback from teachers and students, Engage with China have committed to making this an annual event. “Students at this Model United Nations conference embraced the urgency of climate change and spoke with real passion and persuasion,” said H-J Colston-Inge, Director of Engage with China. “I am sure that we will see some of those students in leadership roles in the future.
“We all need to take individual responsibility to tackle climate change and we hope that our conference will inspire students to be influencers of change – starting today!”
You can read more about the conference resolutions on the Model United Nations page.
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