Later this month, more than 70,000 delegates will arrive at Expo City Dubai for COP28, as the UAE hosts the world’s biggest climate summit for the first time.
The United National Climate Change Conference, which runs from November 30 to December 12, 2023, gives the UAE an opportunity to highlight the work it has been doing in the sustainability realm, and a major part of the country’s progress on that front in recent years has come thanks to its educational institutions.
From Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation students creating innovative composting solutions to students from Nord Anglia International School conducting beach cleans, the UAE’s universities and schools have been contributing significantly to initiatives that tackle climate change.
To coincide with COP28, the UAE created its inaugural Universities Climate Network (UCN), bringing together 31 UAE-based universities and higher education institutions in a pledge to work together to drive engagement among youth and academia in the lead-up to the United Nations summit.
One of the UCN’s members is Middlesex University Dubai, an institution that has long placed sustainability at the heart of its degree programmes. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are embedded into the curricula across the institution’s subject areas, while its Institute of Sustainable Development (ISD) was launched in 2017 to encourage outreach, research and training in the sustainability space.
For Andrew Mackenzie, senior lecturer in marketing and head of the ISD, the integration of sustainability and related topics is something that should be a minimum requirement in higher education, not an optional extra.
“We created the ISD because we realized that as an educational institution, we have a big responsibility to our students and our community to make them as engaged as possible with sustainability,” Mackenzie explains to Livehealthy.
“The added value is, not only are we developing more socially conscious students, they are more employable too. I regularly speak to CEOs and people in industry, and what is clear is that they are looking for solutions-focused graduates who understand issues around sustainability.
“Businesses are desperate to be more sustainable, but there is a missing link in the middle where managers do not have the skill or expertise to initiate change. We want our students to be the missing link, and increasingly we are seeing that companies want to hire young people who are able to solve problems, not who are simply textbook smart.”
Middlesex University Dubai has had a focus on sustainability for some time, but has stepped things up in 2023 ahead of COP28. In March, the university hosted For the Love of the Planet, a two-day festival showcasing the UAE’s student-driven solutions to the issues of sustainable fashion, food sustainability and developing a circular economy.
During COP28, Middlesex will host the Climate Law and Governance Day in association with the University of Cambridge — an event designed to help governments and organizations develop more robust climate regulations and protocols.
“These are great opportunities for our students to demonstrate their ability to think innovatively about the climate crisis, which is an issue that is likely to be perpetually part of their professional lives,” Mackenzie says.
“Here, they are able to work directly with organizations and charities to better understand how to solve problems in different regions. We host competitions around how to be more sustainable with recycling and we also held a food security day this year which introduced students to companies that are doing excellent work in reducing food waste.”
With its Simply Bottles’ campaign, Middlesex became the first University in the UAE to implement a recycling program and eliminate all non-PET plastic on campus. The campaign supports the charity DGrade, which makes sustainable clothing with Greenspun yarn made from plastic bottles; it has a cause that has been taken into more than 200 schools around the emirates.
“We want to change culture from primary school level, because if I tell you that you should recycle more, you probably won’t listen. But if a 10-year-old tells you, that helps spark a change. Recycling has doubled in the UAE in the past few years and we’re happy to have played a small role in that.
“It has been great to see some of our students and graduates speak to primary school children and then observe clear changes in behaviour. Like with anything, if students can see tangible results from what they do, then they are inspired to continue working in that space.”
One of those students is Mehak Srivastava, an editorial consultant for the global communications firm Hill & Knowlton, who recently finished the thesis for her master’s degree in marketing and communications. She was part of the first batch of Middlesex University Dubai postgraduate students to be offered specific modules in sustainability, and now uses the information she got in the classroom educating clients on getting past greenwashing to true Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance.
“I have always been passionate about sustainability, but it has been more at a consumer level than in my working life,” Srivastava explains. “I wanted to see what we could learn in a classroom and though I knew about some of the key concepts like carbon emissions and circular economy, I was looking for a more professional level of understanding…
“Ultimately I want to get into sustainability comms and hopefully work for a brand that’s really making a difference out there in the world.”
Srivastava believes that studying sustainability in the lead-up to COP28 has been a positive experience, but feels there is still a knowledge shortfall among the general population in relation to the UN summit.
“The UAE is definitely making more noise about it and I think the average citizen knows that there’s something big happening in Dubai Expo City,” she says. “But I would say there’s still a lack of understanding about what COP28 is setting out to achieve. The messaging could be clearer.”
Srivastava’s master’s dissertation explored whether there is a gap between what consumers say they want in terms of sustainable brands and what they actually purchase, but does she feel that her peers at Middlesex were similarly enthused by the field of sustainability?
“The fact that we’re able to talk about these things in a classroom is great, but we still have a long, long way to go for sure in terms of engagement,” Srivastava says.
“Obviously I was already passionate about sustainability and I want to make a difference through the work that I do, but honestly I could observe this with many of my fellow classmates as well.
“All of the activities we did around the classes really drew you in; it means you are not doing work for the sake of getting a grade, you are actually learning about organizations and how to implement best practice. That definitely helps switch the mindset of a lot of students.
“It definitely feels like Middlesex aren’t just checking the sustainability boxes in their curriculum, they are actually trying to make a difference on the ground.”
Mackenzie highlights that students are encouraged to focus their dissertations and projects on themes around sustainability, particularly ahead of COP28, as it helps bring some of the event’s key issues to life.
“I think the biggest challenge is taking all this interest in COP28 and harnessing it into something tangible,” he says. “That’s why it’s great when we see the majority of our postgraduate business research papers having a sustainability slant.
“Often that is because the students have gone to businesses and ask what they want – sustainability research is what they are asking for. We’ve seen projects on everything from portable electric car chargers to how to digitalize your air conditioning to reduce consumption and cost.”
Students are wholeheartedly engaging with sustainability at more than the university level. The American School Dubai in Al Barsha is among those participating in the UAE’s Eco-Schools program, which combines classroom study with environmental action.
The school is also part of the Expo City Climate Ambassadors Program, and will be involved in a COP28-themed debate coordinated by multinational law firm Pinsent Masons in November.
Laurence Myers, the American School Dubai’s service learning coordinator, insists that while COP28 helps bring global climate discussions closer to home, the school’s approach is already well-established.
“For the past decade we have focused much of our learning on issues of sustainability and global citizenship,” Myers explains. “COP28 offers a wonderful opportunity for our students to engage more deeply in the topic and, in particular, our role as communities in addressing it.”
The American School Dubai has previously won the Zayed Sustainability Prize for its Edible Education programme, which looks at hands-on learning experiences around food production and waste reduction.
Students are also encouraged to take part in a multi-month project focusing on addressing gaps in existing programs like recycling, carpooling, composting, and flight carbon emissions.
“Our other climate-related initiatives include solar, which we are expanding this year, as well as composting our landscape and food waste, and a well-designed data collection program related to waste, electricity, water and paper use.
“We also have two student groups who collaborate outside the walls of the school through a national group called the UAE Changemakers Collaborative and across the region with our affiliation with the Middle East South Asia Conference (MESAC).
“Our students are dedicated to moving forward with sustainability-related expectations, communication and collaboration for a better world.”
Elsewhere in Dubai, some educators are keen to remind that a focus on sustainability should be for life, not just for COP28. Brett Girven is principal of disruptive education institution The Arbor School, which places awareness of the environment at the heart of his students’ experience.
The school boasts three biodomes and abundant green spaces, which are designed to be an interactive interface between humans and nature. There are species of animals and of plants that fruit and can be harvested — some of which are used in the school’s meals, as well as a ‘learning garden’ for younger kids to connect with the outdoors, and a quiet ‘reflection garden’ too.
The school’s eco-centric approach to learning is embedded in every part of the curriculum and Girven says COP28 coming to Dubai just means business as usual.
“Of course it can be used as an opportunity to amplify the message of sustainability and it is a fabulous chance for governmental, non-governmental, education and corporate groups to get sustainability high on the agenda,” Girven says. “But we need to remember the purpose of COP28. It’s not for schools, it is for governments.
“Our bread and butter at Arbor School every day is sustainability and there are so many ways that schools can bring sustainability into teaching and learning programs.
“It will not start or end with COP28 in the same way teaching PE doesn’t start or end because the Olympics is occurring. Our conversations about how to make the world a more abundant place will continue regardless.”
As Expo City Dubai eagerly prepares to host COP28, it is clear that educational institutions across the UAE are highly committed to sustainability and environmental stewardship. Crucially, while COP28 is clearly a pivotal moment in global climate discussions, the priority for educators is how to cultivate in their students — the activists and decision makers of the future — a desire to address the world’s pressing environmental challenges.
