In June, the WashU Climate Change Program and the Office of Sustainability ran a climate change negotiation simulation with WU College Prep Program students. Students broke into groups and acted as key negotiating parties/blocks in the UNFCCC: the US, China, India, the EU, Least Developed Nations, Other Developed Nations, and Other Developing Nations.
They submitted climate action pledges, as UNFCCC parties are required to do in accordance with the Paris Agreement, after three rounds of negotiations. These pledges included peak emission year, annual percent reduction in emissions after the peak year, afforestation and deforestation pledges, and donations to the Green Climate Fund. Using Climate Interactive‘s World Climate Simulation, the students saw how their pledges could affect the severity of global temperature rise. The students’ pledges resulted in a predicted 2.1°C temperature rise by 2100.
In the upcoming fall, the COP24 Washington Uniersity student delegation plans to supervise more climate negotiation simulations with Saint Louis high school students. If you are a representative from a high school class or club who is interested in arranging a climate negotiation simulation activity, please contact Emma Waltman at emmawaltman@wustl.edu.