Sophie Price, a second-year journalism student at Carleton University, served as a Canadian delegate to an international climate conference last month that aimed to inspire world leaders to take action on climate change.
COP26 was originally scheduled to take place in Glasgow, U.K. in November before being postponed to 2021 because of COVID-19. In its place, Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK) organized the youth-led Mock COP26.
“We basically discuss how to work together to combat this problem that everyone is facing across the entire globe,” said Price, who was one of three Canadian delegates at the conference.
In addition to speakers and panels streamed online, delegates from 142 countries participated in regional caucuses. Each country produced a statement of specific actions their government should take.
The Canadian delegation called for phasing out all fossil fuels by 2030. It also called for a green new deal, increased climate education, and the implementation of ecocide legislation to make mass destruction of the environment a crime.
“We call on world leaders to listen to the science and treat the climate crisis like the emergency that it is,” delegates said in a video played during the conference.
This summer, Price founded the Divest Canada Coalition, a group of 30 student organizations fighting for their institutions to fully divest from fossil fuel investments. At Carleton, the Climate Action Carleton club is also pushing for the university to divest from fossil fuels.
Stephanie Vienneau, a second-year environmental studies student and direct action lead for Climate Action Carleton, said the club is trying to mobilize students and faculty to push for divestment.
“Divestment removes the social license from [the fossil fuel] industry and tells them that we no longer accept what they’re doing,” Vienneau said.
Vienneau said the club is struggling to engage students beyond the reach of their social media account, but received strong engagement on a divestment webinar held last week.
“It’s hard to see that change or excitement around online events,” Vienneau said.
Robin Cox, a professor and program head of the master in climate action leadership at Royal Roads University in B.C., said youth will shoulder a disproportionate amount of the impacts of climate change and have largely been left out of government action on the issue.
“They have the energy and passion and willingness to challenge existing structures in ways that they need to be challenged if we are going to successfully tackle climate change,” said Cox, who is also the director of the Resilience by Design lab, a centre for empowering youth and adults on climate action.
For Mock COP26 to be successful, the conference must make climate change directly relevant to everyone, Cox said. It also must inspire hope and critical thinking, not just a sense of crisis.
“We need to find a way to move forward even when hope is hard to find,” Cox said. “If this conference can do that for and with young people … that would be a huge success.”
Price said she was originally hesitant about applying to be a delegate at Mock COP26 because of the lack of Indigenous representation at the conference. Indigenous communities in Canada are feeling the consequences of climate change more than other communities, Price said.
“The inclusion of Indigenous voices, for one, within our country should be a given,” Cox added. “It’s a complex crisis and it’s going to require multiple viewpoints … if we are to succeed in slowing it down.”
Featured image by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
