SUAD Youth COP 2024

The Youth COP is a mock negotiation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (hereinafter UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (hereinafter COP) organized by Université Paris Cité (France), Universidade Federal do Ceará (Brazil) and Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), in partnership with YOUNGO/UNFCCC.

The competition aims to provide an opportunity for worldwide students to experience climate negotiations through a simulation of the UNFCCC COP whilst fostering their critical thinking and interpersonal skills, such as teamwork, compromise, and conflict resolution applied to climate change agreements.

The outcome document developed by the competitors will be presented at COP29 in Baku (Azerbaijan).

Are eligible to participate in the Youth COP students enrolled in a bachelor’s (higher or equal to the second year of study), master or PhD degree in higher education institutions offering a degree in fields related to international relations, international law, climate change, public policy, and any other bachelor’s degree. Candidates should not be older than 30 years old at the time of the application.

The team members will be asked to provide a proof of their enrolment and a copy of a valid passport.

The YOUTH COP is completely free of charge, you won’t be asked to pay to take part in it.

  • 6 June to 21 July 2024
    Application period
  • 22 July to 5 August 2024
    Teams’ selection
  • 6 August 2024
    Application results notice
  • September 2024
    Training Webinars
  • 27, 28 and 29 September 2024
    Youth COP competition
  • November 2024
    COP 29 Panel

The competition aims to provide an opportunity for worldwide students to experience climate negotiations through a simulation of the UNFCCC COP whilst fostering their critical thinking and interpersonal skills, such as teamwork, compromise, and conflict resolution applied to climate change agreements.

The best-ranked team of the competition and the delegate awarded as best speaker will be sponsored to attend the COP29, due to happen in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024.

The awarded participants will be invited to participate in a panel at the COY/UNFCCC (Conference of Youth) or the COP 29, depending on schedule availability.

Honorary awards will be given to the best individual competitors based on the evaluation of the Organizing Committee. Honorary awards will not grant sponsorship to attend COP29.

All competitors will receive a certificate as proof of their participation in the Youth COP.

The UNFCCC COP simulation will take place virtually, with 3 days of active negotiation (from Friday evening to Sunday evening). During this period, the 25 chosen teams (75 students in total) will discuss and produce documents as representatives of 25 different UNFCCC member states. Students will not be nationals of the States they will represent during the simulation. The teams and their respective representative States will be chosen by the organising team to represent the diversity of the global climate challenges. The goal is to deliver an ambitious and solution-focused agreement covering different aspects of the two proposed themes.

Topics will be as follow:

  • Just energy transition

  • Biodiversity

  • DAY ONE (FRIDAY)
    5:00pm – 7:00 pm Opening, General Plenary
  • DAY TWO (SATURDAY)
    8:00am – 11:00 am Thematic Committees
    1:00pm – 3:00 pm Regional committees and interest groups discussions
    3:00 – 5:00 pm General plenary
  • DAY THREE (SUNDAY)
    10:00 am – 12:00 pm Thematic Committees meetings
    12:00 – 1:00 pm Regional Committees meetings
    2:00pm – 6:00 pm Final Plenary
    7:00 pm Award ceremony

Observations:

Specific platforms will be used for the main plenary, regional committees, and technical meetings.

Before the negotiations, you should prepare individual position papers detailing your represented country’s interests, red lines, priorities, and goals for the three proposed topics. Ideally, by the end of the simulation, the teams will reach a unanimous agreement. Each team will be assigned a specific mentor, chosen by the Organizing Committee, to assist with the preparation of documents for the Youth COP and other simulation-related duties.”

Registration

Submit your team application by clicking the button below, make sure to have all the team documents ready as you have to upload them all to complete the application.

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