Overview
Global cooperation is crucial to addressing the world’s shared challenges. And as Glasgow prepares to host the COP26 in November 2021, UK has a key role to play in bringing the world together to address the global climate emergency.
In the lead up to COP26, the British Council is running a global programme and campaign called ‘The Climate Connection’ to address the challenge of climate change. The Climate Connection is a global platform for dialogue, cooperation and action, connecting millions of people from the UK and the rest of the world through shared solutions to the climate crisis.
The Climate Connection uses the UK's cultural and educational resources to build awareness, share ideas, and empower young people to act on climate change.
The Climate Connection – COP26 Higher Education Roundtable Series
The role the Higher Education (HE) sector plays in developing our understanding of the climate crisis and in developing solutions to deal with it is crucial. Indeed, university researchers have been in the vanguard to alert the world to the looming crisis and thanks to university researchers, we understand how climate change impacts the fundamentals required for life on Earth: water, food, ecosystems, wildlife, energy, transportation, health, communities and the economy, and that the basic human needs of many are already in jeopardy.
Universities provide the scientific evidence upon which governments can build evidence-based climate mitigation policies. We have the sector to thank for many of the technologies, applications and approaches which enable industries to be greener and cleaner whilst still contributing to economic prosperity and, through teaching and curricula, universities are preparing future generations to be able to respond to and to live with the impact of climate change.
The Climate Connection COP26 Higher Education Roundtable Series will explore the multiple roles the HE sector plays in combatting the climate crisis, as well as examining some of the challenges institutions face in their own Race to Zero which can seem at odds with the sector’s role as innovator and solution provider.
The series will bring together key actors from the UK and identified COP26 priority countries to:
- Showcase some of the latest collaborative climate research projects between the UK HE sector and their counterparts around the world
- Explore how research outputs can be used to support governments to develop evidence-based climate mitigation policies
- Examine how the HE sector is preparing the next generation for the reality of climate change, and what skills they need to acquire
- Investigate how universities can be more adept at knowledge production and exchange and at working across traditional academic boundaries, and what policy levers governments can put in place to make this happen
- Reflect on the role universities play in the public discourse around climate change to help build wider trust in and understanding of the science
- How can HEIs make their ageing infrastructure greener and more efficient? With limited resources available for investment, the sector is having to come up with innovative approaches to this issue
About the ASEAN roundtable
| Title: | Climate adaptation and resilience: From policy to practical application |
| Geographical focus: | ASEAN |
| Host country: | Indonesia |
| Chair: | Professor Benjamin Horton, The Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University |
| Provocateur: | Dr Lauriane Chardot, The Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University |
| Panellists: |
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| Date and Time: |
11 October 2021 09.30 - 11.30 BST | 15.20 - 17.30 JKT/BKK Time |
| Summary: |
Join the Climate adaptation and resilience: From policy to practical solutions roundtable to hear a panel of distinguished academics, policymakers and climate leaders from ASEAN and the UK debate the role universities play in the prevention and relief of climate-induced disasters. The roundtable takes as a starting point a policy paper focused on climate adaptation and resilience in ASEAN which was commissioned by the British High Commission in Singapore and developed in collaboration with the UK COP26 Universities Network, the Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The policy paper presents the hazards, exposures and vulnerabilities that the ASEAN region is experiencing, such as floods, droughts, sea-level rise, coastal inundation and extreme weather events. It also explores strategies to reduce disaster risk and improve preparedness at the sub-national and national levels as well as across national boundaries. The panel will discuss:
Audiences have the opportunity to pose questions to the panel when they register for the event. |
Climate Adaption and Resilience: from Policy to Practical Application is the first roundtable in the Climate Connection COP26 Higher Education Roundtable series. For more information on the series, please visit this website.