On November 30th, the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (i.e. Paris Climate Change Conference/COP21) was held in Paris. Tongji University observers from the College of Environmental Science and Technology and Department of Chemistry attended the conference.

On the opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping delivered a speech about China’s position on global climate agenda. He emphasized that all parties should earnestly take joint efforts to build a fair and efficient mechanism to cope with global climate change for sustainable development to a higher level and called for the establishment of cooperative international mechanism with win-win results.

COP21 is expected of an agreement on international mechanisms for climate change after 2020. About 150 heads of state and government attended the opening ceremony.

At the conference, Tongji observers listened to the reports, shared their understanding and expectations on climate change solutions with youth delegations. These observers are selected from colleges of Tongji University, including excellent students who take public course of “Sustainable Development and Future”. They are Gao Yawei, post-graduate student of the School of Chemistry, Duan Lei, under-graduate majoring in Environmental Science, An Zhaohui, under-graduate student majoring in Environmental Engineering and Peng Lu, under-graduate student majoring in water supply and drainage.

Tongji observers will also attend the Global University Climate Forum where they will share the design of riding routines and eco-tourism of eastern Chongming Island in Shanghai with youth delegations, and take participation in COP21 side events, including the “Sino-Europe Forum” and “Forum on Environment and Sustainable Development Education”, where they will share ideas and best practices of Tongji University on sustainable development education and research.

The Tongji observers delegation were organized by UNEP-Tongji IESD, aimed to broaden students’ horizon on the international level, strengthen their understanding of professional knowledge and increase discipline interaction. Students said that they have learned the latest development in the climate change field and broaden their horizons to a large extent by getting better understanding of this issue from this conference.

Through the platform of UNEP-Tongji IESD, Tongji has sent over 50 excellent interns and obeservers to the headquarters of United Nations Environment Programme and of United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UNEP Office for Asia and the Pacific, UNEP Office for Africa, and for major international conferences including climate change conferences and UN Environmental Assembly among others.