During an event, held on Nov. 10, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC), along with the China Center for Climate Change Communication, released the results of a new survey showing that a majority of the public in both the U.S. and China support the Paris Agreement and the clean energy transition.
 
During a panel event on Nov. 14, Casey Pickett ’11 M.E.M./M.B.A., director of the Yale Carbon Charge initiative, will discuss the first-of-its-kind carbon pricing scheme recently introduced campus wide. Angel Hsu ’13 Ph.D., assistant professor at F&ES and Yale-NUS and director of Yale Data-Driven Environmental Solutions Group (Data-Driven Yale), will be speaking at side events and is organizing a workshop.
 
And throughout the conference students from F&ES will fill a variety of roles for national governments, global NGOs, international coalitions, church groups, student organizations, and Yale-based programs.
 
Below, some of the F&ES students describe their projects and what they hope comes from their work.

“Transparency is the backbone of the Paris Agreement. Negotiators in Bonn will be working to finalize the ‘Paris Rule Book’ in preparation for COP24 in Poland. How countries measure, report and verify their emission reduction targets and greenhouse gas inventories is critical for effective implementation of the Paris climate accord since it is a ‘soft agreement’.

“I will be working with Greenhouse Gas Management Institute & Tropical Forest Group on transparency as well as capacity building for carbon accounting. In order for countries meet their NDC targets, and report on progress accurately, a global cohort of skilled carbon accountants are needed. I will also be working with ParisAgreement.org tracking the negotiations, and managing their #BringParisHome campaign. Before during and after COP23, ParisAgreement.org seeks to drive sub-national action and support the implementation of the Paris Agreement locally via its campaign to encourage everyone to bring the Paris Agreement home.

“Creating a sustainable future takes action from all of us — starting at home.”

“I am part of the Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop’s representative delegation. Our team is highlighting the moral imperatives of acting for climate justice, offering a spiritual presence at COP23 through daily interfaith services, and encouraging active churchwide participation by Episcopalians through virtual participation and social media. My own role is as communications coordinator. I’m drawing on skills I learned on President Obama and the Sierra Club’s digital teams to help encourage the rest of the delegation to maintain active online presences, in order to encourage our church's 2 million members to become more active on climate issues. The church also participated in the past two COPs, advocating for a global agreement that aligns with our own forceful policies and resolutions related to climate change, and raising awareness about the Paris Agreement and the “Were Still In” movement among Episcopalians.
 
“As a future Episcopal priest and a joint student at F&ES and the Divinity school, my own research focuses on identifying the challenges to engaging in environmental ministries at the parish level. Those challenges include a lack of awareness surrounding the spiritual and justice dimensions of climate change, something I am hoping the church’s presence at COP23 can help shift. Addressing climate change will require the participation of every sector of society, especially religion given the impact it has in the lives of a majority of people across the globe. Faith traditions are also uniquely positioned to offer a moral voice on the harms caused by climate change and the importance of living within our limits and in right relationship with the rest of the earth, honoring our proper role and place within the created order. I am excited to be a part of that work at COP23.”

“I will be blogging for the Yale Program on Climate Change Communications (YPCCC), representing YPCCC and the Data-Driven Yale Environmental Solutions Group, and helping out with America’s Pledge and the U.S. People's Delegation.
 
“I am most excited about seeing and working with former colleagues and friends from the process that I've worked with on the negotiations for the last three COPs during my time as a Special Assistant and Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy for Climate Change at the U.S. Department of State under the Obama administration.
 
“My efforts will focus on conveying to the international community that we, the American people, are still in the Paris Agreement. The vast majority of American citizens, and a massive movement of states, cities, counties, companies, investors, universities and citizens across the country are deeply committed to ambitious action on climate change that delivers on the objective of the Paris Agreement, even despite the Trump administration indicating an intent to walk back from the Paris Agreement at the federal level.
 
“I am hopeful that by conveying the strong sense of solidarity that the majority of the American public shares with the global community on this issue, we will engender continued confidence and trust in the multilateral climate regime set up by the Paris Agreement. The vast majority of the American people are committed to delivering on the objectives of the Paris Agreement, and acting ambitiously at home and abroad to address the global challenge that climate change poses to every sector of the economy and in every region of the world. Showcasing this movement and sharing that sentiment with delegations from across the world will hopefully advance the international process by highlighting the irriversable momentum and pace of the transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient society, and the collective need to accelerate that transition together. This especially salient in the context of the upcoming Facilitative Dialogue in 2018 which is set to take place at COP24 next year.”