Simon Donner, a professor at UBC Geography and IRES, will join UBC’s largest ever delegation at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) this November.
10 representatives from the university, including five faculty members, four students, and one staff member, will attend the climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Delegates are chosen through a rigorous selection committee from the Sustainability Hub and the Office of the Vice-Provost International.
UBC has ‘Official Observer’ status for COP27 and is allocated a set number of ‘badges’ that provide access to key negotiation meetings, influential side events and exhibits at the conference.
“Why do so many people attend these meetings? Isn’t this a waste of energy? To which I’d say: Maybe. Yet this is the largest collective action problem in the history of humanity. Perhaps 20,000 people is not enough,” says Prof. Donner.
With a strong departmental record in climate research, and climate action, this is the second year in a row that a member of UBC Geography has been part of the UBC delegation.
