Behind the scenes at COP28: Leeds student reflects on experience as delegate at climate talks

Josh Elgin on 19 December 2023

World leaders have reached a new agreement to tackle climate change in Dubai. COP28, the 28th annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting, brought nations from around the world together to figure out how to deal with the effects of climate change.

The event, which this year was hosted by United Arab Emirates (UAE), took place over two weeks, concluding on December 13.

The University of Leeds, which was an official observer of the event, sent nine delegates including – for the first time – an undergraduate student. 

Vaibhav Pramode Nair, who is only 20-years-old, studies Sustainability and Environmental Management at the School of Earth and Environment and was given rare access to the event. He tells The Gryphon why he went and what he saw at the largest climate summit in the world.

How did you get to attend the conference?

I built relationships within the University of Leeds Priestley Centre for Climate Futures and out of curiosity expressed my interest in wanting to help. I then spoke to the School of Politics and International Studies and told them I live in UAE anyway.

So I pitched the idea and there was a back and forth with emails and we established what I wanted to do at COP28 and met in the middle in terms of what the Priestley Centre was looking for. 

Participants onstage during the Closing Plenary at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 at Expo City Dubai on December 13, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by COP28 / Anthony Fleyhan)

Why did you want to go? What priorities did you have going in?

I had lots of things I wanted to focus on! It was a big privilege to be the first undergraduate ever from the University of Leeds to attend. 

I am a big advocate for soil and part of a global movement called Save Soil so my number one priority was to go and engage with soil policy and ensure soil was on the cover text. 

My second priority was youth engagement. How do we get young people from Leeds specifically on board with the COP process and understand there’s a formal way to impact positive climate action? Civil society – campaign groups like Just Stop Oil and Greenpeace – is one part of it but I think students tend to think that’s the only way to impact climate action. There’s a huge demand to bring about climate action but little knowledge there’s a formal way to sit at the negotiation tables and speak to bring about change. So I wanted to go to COP and bring back that experience to the community in Leeds.

My third priority was on following the advancements in terms of the finance front. A big question going into the conference was how do we ensure that climate action is adequately financed and countries pay up?

Can you conceptualise the conference for me, what does it actually look like inside? The University of Leeds is an official observer, what access does that status give you?

At COP there are two zones. The green zone is open to the public and is usually free to enter. In this zone companies set up stalls showcasing their sustainability initiatives. It’s like a trade fare. 

The blue zone is where the real stuff happens. It’s where all the delegates, ministers and heads of state gather for negotiations. We had access to the blue zone, and whilst there are a few sessions that are exclusive to heads of state or environment ministers, we could get into most rooms and observe most meetings. 

EXPO City Dubai is huge! It’s 15,000 daily steps easy without trying too hard.

What did the University of Leeds delegates do whilst you were there?

The University of Leeds mostly sends scientists and researchers who have their own priorities and will follow the negotiations and speak at some events. 

We had nine people go as part of an in-person delegation and another 15 attending online. We didn’t have a stand but each of us had our own issues that we focused on and charted our own schedule. For me, it was youth empowerment and soil so I attended relevant negotiations and events for these topics.

Going in there was some scepticism about the United Arab Emirates hosting the event. It’s a nation that is very dependent on the riches of carbon. Can you give me an idea of the national debate going on within the country at the moment? Is climate action a serious priority or are there still, understandably, concerns about the potential economic impact of changing the status quo?

Post-COP28, if you ask most people around the world, this conference has been a success. Initially, when we entered we thought it would be a finance COP about how we can mobilise finance to support climate initiatives but that was barely seen in the end.

It instead became a fossil fuel COP and the cover text sends a clear message about the desire to move on from fossil fuels. There were also other key outcomes such as the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture which put food high on the climate agenda.

Within the UAE there is a celebratory mood. The feeling is that COP28 has created a positive momentum, with the UAE presidency pulling off a successful event and putting out a cover text that is implementable, though of course there is a lot of work to be done and there are sceptics. 

I would say that Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (the COP28 president) has silenced his critics because he has come out with a pretty concrete outcome.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 at Expo City Dubai on December 1, 2023 / Photograph: COP28

In the text agreement the word ‘soil’ was not mentioned. What are your thoughts about that? 

Soil is seen as a victim of climate change when it should be seen as a solution and an adaptation of climate change. When we talk about climate, we don’t think of soil, which is the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet.

I hope at COP29 we see the declaration taking up the issue of soil seriously. Whilst it’s not on the cover text, I am really happy about the sheer volume of people gravitating towards food systems and agriculture. Never before at a COP has this topic been covered in such depth so I am really glad to see that. 

When you come back to Leeds what is the next step?

We just had a post-conference delegation meeting and spoke about our key takeaways. We will all be writing individual reports about our experience, what we can do better and what the COP29 delegation should be looking out for. I will also be going forward and engaging with young people in Leeds on the COP process. We have some exciting initiatives coming up on how students can engage in the formal process of COP and get their voices heard. 

The United Kingdom hosted COP26 two years ago and was at the forefront of tackling the climate crisis. However, with Rishi Sunak delaying and cancelling green policies such as the ban on petrol and diesel cars do you think the UK is still a global leader? 

I saw first-hand the work that the UK is doing and the work British universities are doing and it is simply phenomenal. The current government might not be up to speed with climate action but it doesn’t give me a reason for discontent because of what I saw at COP28. All the British universities and the UK delegation itself held multiple bilaterals and were very active in negotiations.

Pretty Little Thieves: Molly-Mae and her social responsibility

Kitty Handford on 21 February 2022

Last year, an uproar was prompted when PrettyLittleThing (PLT) offered a 99% off sale for Black Friday. This led to customers asking how the company could possibly be selling clothes for as little as eight pence: what on earth are they paying their workers? How cheap are their materials? What is the environmental impact? 

The brand, which is owned by the Boohoo group, has come under fire numerous times as one of the worst fast fashion companies in the UK. In 2020, the owner was found to be paying garment workers in Leicester as little as £3.50 an hour.

In 2021 ex-Love Island star, Molly-Mae Hague, became the creative director of PLT. This week the fashion retailer held their first ever runway event, with Molly standing excitedly at the forefront. Outside the venue, a group of protesters gathered. Amongst them was 2021 Love Island star Brett Staniland, holding a sign which read: “There is nothing ‘pretty’ about wage theft”.

As a feminist, I feel it is my responsibility to uplift, support and celebrate women. Whilst it is brilliant to see women in high power roles at the top of their industry, it is also difficult to celebrate Molly-Mae’s seven-figure deal with PLT with the knowledge that the women making the clothes that she promotes are not even paid a living wage. 

Recently Molly came under fire once again, remarking in a podcast episode that “everyone has the same twenty-four hours in a day”. The clip of Molly went viral, with many calling her tone-deaf, commenting on her ignorance towards her privilege as a white, middle-class woman. Molly’s comment also seemed to ignore the fact that her platform, which has been dramatically elevated since her appearance on Love Island, gives her far more opportunities than the average person. One of the protesters outside the PLT runway show even held up a sign alluding to Molly’s podcast comment, it read “PLT Creative Director Salary: £4.8 million, PLT Garment Maker Salary: £7280. Same 24 hours in a day”. 

However, supporters of Molly-Mae argue that she is only twenty-two years old, and she can do no right in the eyes of a scrutinous public. Yes, Molly is young and being under constant examination must be incredibly difficult. Perhaps the level of vitriol that Molly received for her comment was excessive, but it is inescapable that she does have a level of responsibility to make a change, both in how she addresses her privilege and in her role at PLT.  

The very name of Molly’s role – an ‘influencer’ – speaks to the power that she has over her fans, many of whom are teenage girls. Whilst securing brand deals is part and parcel of the influencer role, some ex-Love Island contestants (like Brett Staniland) have used their platform to advocate for fair living wages, sustainable fashion, and climate change activism. With her current Instagram following standing at 6.2 million and the significance of her role within PLT, Molly certainly has the power to assist change. This could be advocating for the factory workers at PLT, or it could be working towards making the brand more sustainable. Let’s hope that 2022 is the year that Molly-Mae uses her twenty-four hours to make a positive influence.

Image credit: Instagram (@mollymae)

Disabled people risk being left in the cold in a sustainable energy future, University of Leeds researchers warn

GryphonEditorAdm on 13 December 2021

A new study reveals that disabled households in the European Union currently consume 10% less energy than other households, as well as being 5% more likely to experience energy poverty.

University of Leeds researchers warn that disabled people in the EU are already energy disadvantaged and therefore need greater consideration in planning for energy policy aimed at tackling the climate crisis.

The study, published today in Nature Energy, provides a comprehensive analysis of the energy use of disabled households in the European Union — including England — in various energy consumption areas, such as transport, leisure, food and health services. 

Using consumption data from 19 countries in the EU in 2010, Dr Diana Ivanova and Professor Lucie Middlemiss of the Sustainability Research Institute, show that while disabled people use less energy, it is not necessarily through choice and potentially it is at the cost of disabled people not having their needs met for energy and other resources.

Professor Middlemiss said: “Disabled people are largely invisible in environmental policy and practice, and rarely discussed as having particular needs or facing particular challenges. This is a glaring oversight as we try to move towards a more sustainable future.

“Following the Glasgow COP26 climate change conference, we are all thinking more about how our energy consumption should change but that cannot come at the cost of people with different needs.

“It is critical to understand how disabled people are consuming their energy, and if their current needs are being met. This will enable us to reduce energy consumption safely and in a way that allows disabled people to live decent lives.”

Disabled household energy use for basic needs and services, such as food, energy at home, water, and waste, is similar to other households. However, disabled households have lower energy use for leisure services, such as recreation, hotels, restaurants and travel services.

Disabled households also have lower energy consumption for mobility, both in air transport and motor fuel, and lower energy spend on education than other households – suggesting lower opportunities to access education.

It is notable that disabled households tend to under-consume transport and leisure activities even when compared to households with similar incomes.

Disabled households’ limited consumption of leisure services highlights an important inequality, suggesting that disabled people have fewer opportunities to engage in fun and relaxing activities that require energy consumption.

The similar consumption of energy for basic needs between disabled and non-disabled households of the same income is also a concern. Often, disabled people have a greater need for energy in the home: for life-supporting machinery or to keep warmer, or wash more frequently than others.

In the light of these greater needs, the similar consumption levels to other households suggest that energy in the home might be being under-consumed by disabled households.

To date, there is very limited research on the needs and experiences of disabled people in the environmental literature. This is despite the fact that disabled people are regularly supported by governments in developed nations (including EU nations) and seen as important targets of social policy.

Professor Middlemiss said: “Disabled people may also be more vulnerable to climate change consequences such as extreme temperatures or emergency relief being inaccessible.

“When we consider that of the 446 million people living in the European Union, around 100 million are believed to be disabled, disability is a topic that merits more attention from environmental scholars and policymakers.

“These findings also support our earlier call to include the energy poor, in all their diversity, in energy transition planning.”

The paper Characterising the energy use of disabled people in the European Union towards inclusion in the energy transition is published in Nature Energy 13 December 2021 (DOI: 10.1038/s41560-021-00932-4)

Nordgreen Watches: the Scandinavians excel yet again

Alex Gibbon on 7 December 2021

Sleekness, minimalism and functionality appear to be the holy trinity of Nordic design. For a timepiece that boasts all three, look no further than Nordgreen. The Danish watch brand strives for products that are as aesthetically pleasing as they are sustainable. 

For a company that was only founded in 2017, practically fetal in the world of watchmakers, Nordgreen’s range of designs exudes maturity and elegance. This comes as no surprise when you realise that the watches come from the brand’s Chief Designer Jakob Wagner, who has collaborated with major brands such as Bang & Olufson, Hay, B&B Italia, and Cappellini.

The Gryphon was kindly sent a Philosopher model with a black dial and a 5-link chain. The watch itself features a raised and textured chapter ring, containing the slim second and hour markers. Measuring 36mm with a 7.4mm depth, the design is slim enough to not feel gaudy yet eye-catching enough to create a visual impact. What’s more, the angle and dainty size of the lugs mean that the piece fits very comfortably on the wrist.

Aside from the strength of its design, the Copenhagen-based brand is undoubtedly ethically-driven. The ‘green’ in their name is a testament to Nordgreen’s environmental commitment with fully FSC certified packaging and a pledge to ensure that overseas production facilities adhere to the highest standards.

What is most interesting however is the degree to which a Nordgreen customer can dictate the brand’s moral focus. As part of the Giving Back Programme, for each timepiece sold, the brand donates on the buyer’s behalf to one of three causes: providing clean water in the Central African Republic; giving education to children in India; or protecting the rainforests of Latin America. 

So, what’s the overall verdict? Nordgreen is a great choice for a watch with a timeless design from a brand that clearly champions change and innovation. The Scandanavians have done it again!

To see the full range of Nordgreen products, go to: https://nordgreen.co.uk/collections/leather-watch-straps

Note: The Gryphon received a complimentary product from Nordgreen in exchange for an honest review