AUC Opens its Pavilion in Cop27 With Cutting-Edge Climate Research, Initiatives and Activities
The American University in Cairo (AUC) opened yesterday its 100-meter square pavilion (P-22) in the Green Zone of COP27, the world’s largest climate conference, in Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Center, with a team of more than 130 members, including AUC scholars, students and several staff members. The pavilion includes innovative and sustainable technologies prototypes that showcase AUC’s solutions to combat climate change, in addition to poster and screen areas that show the University’s current research to contribute to finding solutions for a number of challenges in Egypt. AUC is also showing case studies, leading by example and primarily disseminating its knowledge and innovative strategies through stage presentations of AUC’s faculty, students and staff research. Khaled Tarabieh, University architect, associate professor of sustainable design and chair of AUC’s COP27 Task Force, said: “Our participation in COP27 is a continuation of our pioneering green architecture and sustainability in the region.” We welcome everyone to attend and observe our current distinctive research and events to overcome the challenges of climate change,” Tarabieh added.
AUC’s 10- day program encompasses a wide range of activities, spanning all schools and the majority of disciplines. On the first day, Salah El Haggar, professor of mechanical engineering, and Karim Seddik, professor of electronics and communications engineering and associate dean of graduate studies and research, gave a stage presentation on the road map for global climate change. Moreover, Yasmine Abdel Maksoud, senior technical manager of the Center for Applied Research on the Environment and Sustainability (CARES), gave a presentation on CARES sustainable development actions and activities that aim to help Egypt, Africa and the world as a whole reach the goal of sustainability.
The pavilion also hosted a poster session for Bahia Shehab, professor of practice in the Department of the Arts, who presented an interactive multi-sensory art experience titled "Heaven and Hell in the Anthropocene," where the audience play a game and asked a series of questions related to the environment. Depending on their score, they go either to heaven or hell. "The Anthropocene is a geological era when human activity started to impact the planet's climate and ecosystems significantly. So that is why it is called heaven and hell in the Anthropocene," Shehab explained.
The pavilion's activities are divided into daily themes: finance day, science and youth and future generation day, decarbonization day, adaptation agriculture day, gender day and water day, civil society and energy day, biodiversity day, and solutions day.
In finance day today, discussions are about the effect of climate change on firm performance, how is climate change and the transition to a green economy expected to shape the future of work in Egypt, and green jobs and the future of work.
In the following days, there will be presentations and discussions about several issues related to climate change and the environment, including overcoming eco-anxiety amongst youth in Egypt, media and the environment, wind towers as a passive environmental solution for energy and carbon reduction, thermally responsive walls as a low-cost approach for sustainable urbanization in hot arid climates and planting on rooftops. They will also include sustainability and a presentation of the carbon footprint report that the Office of Sustainability issues every two years, in addition to eco-friendly green disinfectants and wound care solutions, water scarcity, novel membranes for desalination, greywater treatment for reuse and others.
“AUC’s participation in a global and important conference like COP27 is a chance to discuss the solutions we have developed to mitigate climate change challenges,” said AUC President Ahmad Dallal. “It is an opportunity to show our innovation in sustainability, design and engineering; organize events and panels that add to the conversation and connect with other participants as a springboard for possible collaborations and exchange of expertise in the future,” he added.