The Global University Climate Forum (GUCF)

Ran by Yale University, the competition seeks to create a platform on which entrepreneurial students can share ideas, learn, connect, and act on the global imperative of addressing climate change. The St Andrews Forest Proposal was nominated by Yale as a contending project. Successful projects will be showcased at COP26.

As part of this nomination, the other three students on the ESB and I have worked together to develop one specific aspect of this proposal: education. Education will establish the student-led, bottom-up approach that the proposal aims to achieve. Moreover, as pioneers for the future of climate change, this education aims to provide the students with the applicable practical skills for the challenges to come.

This educational project is in the form of a CEED and OSDS workshop. Alongside this, we participated in a series of seminars on climate action and innovation, as well as a series carbon management workshops. Monthly, we submit progress reports to Yale University.

The CEED/OSDS Workshop

For the second semester of this academic year, students and staff will have a unique opportunity to participate in an invaluable education opportunity that will allow them to learn more about carbon capture, have their say on the St Andrews Forest, and design the curriculum they'd like to see associated with it. After participation students will receive recognition for it on their transcript and a LinkedIn badge.

The workshop series will primarily be delivered by a series of guest speakers; highly-distinguished professionals like prominent author from ETH Zurich and Chief of California's Cap and Trade Program will be leading respective sessions. Students will then split off into focus groups to develop a curriculum plan before coming together a month later in front of panel of judges to present their ideas. The judging panel consists of the staff largely responsible for the development of education at St Andrews.

Moreover, we were cautious of combining both students and staff together without a personalised experience. Therefore, in collaboration with the Environment Team, a parallel OSDS workshop will be running with a special roundtable event specifically for staff.

This ideas will be assembled into a module outline for a vertically integrated projects (VIP) which will be led by Dr. William Austin in January 2022.

Student Interest

While not a project in itself, myself, along with the other students of the ESB have been receiving emails over the past few months from many students asking to get involved or find out more after discovering the Forest initiative.

Among these students are TESA-creators, Millie and Lottie, with whom we have an upcoming meeting to add the initiative to the matriculation module.

Outreach

The students of the ESB are actively involved in projects outside of the University, and we have often frequented the topic of carbon capture. We have found ourselves in a very lucky position to proudly say that the University is considering this pioneering carbon capture project.

As a Greenpeace Public Speaker, I have showcased the Forest proposal to highlight how far a simple idea can go and encourage change. Some of the schools I have spoken to have chosen to create their own forests. Albeit, these are not official credible carbon offsetting schemes, but this nonetheless has ignited momentum and action.

Personal Influence

This project has fuelled my further interest in enterprise. To develop these skills I have joined CEED's PSC+ in Enterprise workshops.