Cover Cop28 may not have resulted in a call to ‘phase out’ fossil fuels, but nations committed to ‘transitioning away’ from them by tripling investments in renewables (Photo: Getty Images)
Cop28 may not have resulted in a call to ‘phase out’ fossil fuels, but nations committed to ‘transitioning away’ from them by tripling investments in renewables (Photo: Getty Images)
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Three young delegates stood out at 2023’s Conference of the Parties (Cop28) for the work they do for the environment and in fighting climate change
Cop28, the United Nations’ annual climate summit, which this year ended on December 12, 2023, saw an encouraging participation by youth delegates from several countries. The summit funded the participation of 100 up-and-coming young activists from small-island and developing nations. Global youth, who have for many years led climate activism, participated in large numbers in this year’s policymaking discussions, possibly setting a model for future Cops.
Indeed, youth participation was perhaps one of the brighter spots of this year’s summit which saw country delegates discussing ways to limit carbon emission amid gloomy assessments that not enough is being done to limit global temperature rise by 1.5°C—the Paris Agreement goal set in 2015 that 194 countries have since endorsed. In the end, the agreement that was meant to reinvigorate nations into making tougher policies failed to inspire many as it stopped short of mentioning any “phasing out” of fossil fuels.
In case you missed it: Cop28: What do young leaders in Asia really think about it?
The irony was compounded by the fact that the climate summit was held in the UAE, a major petrostate, and that most of the 70,000 delegates flew in to attend—actually doubling the amount of cumulative emissions since the first Cop was held in 1995.
But if we put aside these gloomier aspects of the summit, the one glimmer of hope that Cop28 offered us was the active engagement by young budding climate leaders, who highlighted valuable perspectives from local climate-related movements at the world stage.
Here we have spotlighted three young Cop28 delegates who have started impactful climate movements of their own in Asia.
Jayaa Kanwal Jaggi
Jayaa Kanwal Jaggi wears many humanitarian hats. She participated in policy-shaping dialogues lending a voice to the youth in her native Pakistan at the World Economic Forum, served as volunteer for the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, and is currently working as a consultant at the United Nations Population Fund—the UN branch dealing with sexual and reproductive health. Back home, she co-founded GreenSquad, a conservation group that rallies fellow youth to volunteer and plant trees. Though almost a quarter of its neighbouring country India is covered by forests, Pakistan only enjoys a fraction of this while being subjected to the same global temperature increases. Planting trees is a swift and efficient way to improve the country’s quality of life, and Jayaa has been organising plantation and cleaning drives all across the country through her organisation.
Shamim Ahmed Mridha
Shamim Ahmed Mridha hails from Bangladesh, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. He has an extensive background in climate leadership and policy as a youth advisor for the Asia-Pacific Youth Advisory Group on Environmental and Climate Justice, a UN group formed for young people to directly inform the UN Secretary-General of their perspectives on climate matters. Shamim is also the founder of Eco-Network from Bangladesh, an organisation which grew to become one of the largest youth-led movements in South Asia to promote environmental sustainability, winning the Joy Bangla Youth Award this year. His efforts at home and internationally earned him the Diana Award in 2022.
Sankalp Suman
Above Sankalp Suman (Photo: courtesy of LinkedIn)
Sankalp Suman (Photo: courtesy of LinkedIn)
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Sankalp Suman is a dedicated environmentalist from India. During his college years studying environmental engineering, he combined climate activism and a sense of entrepreneurship to start OffsetGo, a start-up which aims to make carbon offset projects and carbon credits trading more transparent. Though the company is running today, Sankalp has since left it to pursue a sustainability manager role at Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), a one-of-a-kind role developed to address the issues climate change poses on sugarcane farming. Growing up in a family of farmers and witnessing firsthand the effects of climate change on the agricultural sector, he pays tribute to his family by helping ISMA to take its first steps into becoming a more sustainable organisation. Sankalp’s proudest achievement is having worked with and convinced the government of Pondicherry in southern India through a series of climate trends studies to increase its climate management budget by 30 per cent in two years.
Khoa Tran is Social Impact Editor at Tatler Hong Kong. He covers stories touching on sustainability, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and diversity. Trained as a lawyer, Khoa’s work as a writer had previously touched up topics such as regulatory compliance, ESG, and banking. Outside of the office, he enjoys rock climbing and relaxing in jazz clubs.
