What is COP27?

As the only Irish university with official observer status at the United Nations' 27th "Conference of the Parties" COP27 conference, the UCC President’s Office in association with UCC's Environmental Research Institute sent a delegation of 11 researchers and students to the annual global summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November 2022.

Who was in the UCC delegation?

The UCC President’s COP27 delegation was led by Prof Hannah Daly and was organised by a working group within the President's office and the ERI. The delegation included postgraduate students and academic experts in carbon emissions and budgets, transport, societal change, sustainable cities, air and water pollution and energy efficiency. The UCC delegation were highly visible on national media thoughout the COP27 conference with numerous appearances on TV, radio, newsprint and social media.

Prof Hannah Daly, Professor in Sustainable Energy and Energy Systems Modelling at UCC (MaREI, ERI)

Against a backdrop of worsening impacts of climate change at home and across the world, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of this climate summit. While countries have made strong commitments to decarbonisation, that ambition is being realised only at a snail’s pace relative to what is necessary. This will be the COP of implementation: governments, businesses and civil society must come together to collaborate on the millions of individual actions essential to drive emissions down rapidly.

Delegate and Egyptian citizen Omar Ibrahim (School of Engineering and Architecture, MaREI, ERI)

Personally, COP27 is not just special because it’s a representation for Africa - it’s held in my home country. Joining the Irish delegation under UCC’s flag as an Egyptian is live evidence that different perspectives are encouraged to engage in the conversation, and even shape it. I hope to see an implementation COP, where countries share clear roadmaps and strategies about meeting climate targets relative to their contribution to carbon emissions.

Mock COP27

To coincide with the official conference, the UCC Student Recruitment Office, with the collaboration of the ERI, the Office of Sustainability and Climate Action, Student Societies and UCC’s Students’ Union, organised a Mock COP27 as part of the UCC Open Day 2022.

The event was hosted by Dr Fionn Rogan (ERI, MaREI) and was designed to increase awareness of what would be discussed at COP27 in Egypt. The 70 secondary school student attendees from all over Ireland adopted negotiating positions for different country groupings and had the opportunity to experience the dynamics of negotiating an international agreement on climate change. Students were surprised at how difficult it was to reach agreements on the difficult topic of carbon emission targets!

The right to a healthy environment for our youth

The right to a healthy environment is being increasingly recognised at international level, thanks to youth climate activists and advocates who have been key to progressing action against climate change.

Coinciding with COP27, Dr Aoife Daly (School of Law, Centre for Law and the Environment and the ERI) convened an online event at which children and youth reflected on the significance of the right to a healthy environment for children and youth, particularly from the perspective of the UN Convention on the rights of the child and contributed to the decision-making process around the UN Climate Change Convention.

Speakers at this event included law students and academics, climate justice advocates and the Director of the Global Network on Human Rights and the Environment.

Governing Disaster Risk in a Changing Climate – Lessons from Aotearoa New Zealand and Ireland

The Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights (CCJHR) led by Dr Dug Cubie (ERI, School of Law, Centre for Law and the Environment) also held a lunchtime seminar on the topic of disaster risk to coincide with COP27.

Chaired by Dr Marie Aronsson-Storrier (ERI, School of Law, Centre for Law and the Environment), presenters Dr Cubie and Holly Faulkner (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) examined how the legal and policy frameworks of two countries, Aotearoa New Zealand and Ireland, are preparing for and responding to the changing hazard profile and disaster risks resulting from climate change.