From 3 to 14 December, the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will bring together 30,000 participants from almost 200 countries to Katowice, Poland. This year’s theme is “Changing together,” concerning the determination of all parties to adopt necessary decisions to fully implement the Paris Agreement (2015) dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, starting in 2020.

The development of climate-friendly modern technology solutions, such as electromobility; the solidarity between individuals and just transition of industrial regions; and supporting achieving climate neutrality by absorbing CO2 by nature (forests and land, or by water management); are the three key themes of the COP24.

COP24 will be attended by the representatives of governments, diplomacy, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and researchers, businesses and other groups interested in solutions to climate changes that will decide about the most important directions of climate protection, including delegates from the UNESCO Chair ESCI-UPF and the UPF. Furthermore, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, the Universitat de Barcelona, and the Universitat de les Illes Balears have also been recognized as observers to the UNFCCC; being the only five Spanish universities to attend COP24.

The Director of the Chair, Pere Fullana i Palmer, and researcher and External Relations Officer at the Chair, Jaume Albertí, will be attending the COP24 as observers on behalf of ESCI-UPF. “As observer, UNFCCC recognises our efforts to tackle climate change as a centre of excellence in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and its applications to its mitigation,” highlights Fullana i Palmer. “Attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference offers us a unique opportunity to directly interact with parties, promote scientific research, cooperation, education and communication on sustainable development,” he adds.