Dr Jess Savage, Assistant Professor in GSD and Deputy Head of the School for Cross-faculty Studies attended COP26 as one of only a few academics and experts selected as University of Warwick Official Delegates.

Jess attended the Green Zone, a space managed by the UK Government where there were opportunities to listen, learn, and celebrate climate action. She also had access to the Blue Zone, a UN-managed space that hosted the negotiations.

"Attending COP26 was an excellent opportunity to learn more about how global policy is designed. In theory, it should have given me a great deal of optimism for how humans might meaningfully respond to climate change. In reality I had a very mixed experience. There was certainly a palpable feeling of optimism, and it was great to see conversations regarding the wider complexities of climate change go beyond carbon emissions and deforestation. However, there were stark inequalities regarding access, inclusivity and voice. COP26 had a lot to live up to. I don't think it hit the mark, but it was certainly better than no COP at all. The next step is to learn from the limitations of COP26, and accelerate collaborations and conversations towards a unified global response to the challenge of climate change."

2.5 billion coffee cups are used and thrown away each year in the UK - enough to stretch around the world roughly five and a half times - but less than 1 in 400 - just 0.25% - are recycled (Environmental Audit Committee, Disposable Packaging: Coffee Cups Contents).

Delegates at COP26 were served drinks in reusable cups as part of a strategy to limit waste at the global summit.

Closer to home, Warwick Cup was founded by GSD students in 2020 to tackle waste produced by single-use cups through a reusable cup-sharing system on campus.

Both examples of cup-sharing systems give us hope that perspectives on single-use waste consumption are changing.

Above: Zero Waste Cups at COP26

"COP26 has been described by some observers as their hardest COP ever, owing to the logistical challenges of a COP in a Covid year, and the restrictions put on observer engagement in the venue. In contrast, this was my best COP. COPs are overwhelming experiences, and I am now finally at the point where I feel fully in control of what I do and what is happening around me, that I understand everything and that I make myself useful. This is the satisfying side. The other side of the experience is the distress experienced when seeing some of the shocking developments and the draft agreements released. As such I have dubbed this the good COP/bad COP experience.

Above: Benjamin Georges-Picot at COP26

Each day at COP26, Šimon Michalčík, a final-year BASc GSD and Business Studies student, welcomed delegates with The Change Chocolate - chocolate that is carbon neutral, fair-trade, and plants trees. The chocolates were wrapped with a powerful message for the delegates: restoring a trillion trees can absorb 25% of all human-made carbon emissions and give us the time needed to fight the climate crisis. This year's slogan on the front of the chocolate bars was "Store below 1.5°C to avoid a meltdown".

Šimon attended COP26 as a member of the delegation of Plant-for-the-Planet, an international NGO. Plant-for-the-Planet's mission is to support reforestation projects across the planet - especially in developing countries - and empower young people towards climate justice. Šimon has been part of the organisation since he was 14 and founded the Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation in the Czech Republic.

Above: Dr Jess Savage and Šimon Michalčík at COP26 with a bar of The Change Chocolate

Daveena Saranna, one of our BASc graduates and a current MASc Global Sustainable Development student, took part in a film where young people put experts on the spot about climate change for COP26. In this special episode of Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged Show, commissioned by the National Grid, young people passionate about making a difference asked experts in the fields of energy and transport their questions about what the world will look like if we don't change what we are doing.

The episode was shown at the IMAX cinema in the Green Zone of COP26, during an event organised by the UK’s National Grid.

One of our Class of 2020 graduates, Mia Sannapureddy, featured on a panel in the Green Zone discussing different perspectives on the role of finance when working towards a brighter future. The panel shared their thoughts on how to take control of your savings, pensions and banking and ensure that they're working to create a greener, healthier and happier world.

Mia is currently a Research Assistant at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge. She works on sustainable finance, supporting research on mitigating climate change and inequality through the investment policies and practices of institutional investors.