“The carbon reduction actions that a single student can take are actually quite limited, but there are so many students in China that together they can have a huge impact.”
On November 19th, three primary school student representatives from the Wahaha Bilingual School in Hangzhou, China, presented their school’s achievements in building a low-carbon campus over the past decade at a side event.
At a side event titled “Vulnerable Cities Under the Impact of Climate Change: Youth Perspectives and Climate Action” during the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), 17-year-olds Ye Lisiqi and Tang Baoxi from China shared their vision for a “Carbon Point Plan” on campus. They believed that the carbon market system could be applied to schools to motivate student groups to reduce carbon emissions.
COP29 was held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, from November 11-22. Many Chinese teenagers were present at this conference, sharing innovative solutions for youth to address climate change in fluent English on the international stage.
“Carbon Point Plan” on Campus
Ye Lisiqi, currently a second-year high school student at The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, loves nature and outdoor activities. He said his passion for environmental climate and ecological research stemmed from a profound personal experience: when he was three years old, due to severe air pollution in Beijing that caused health issues, he had to leave the country with his family. Growing up near a wetland park in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he developed a love for nature and the environment.
“There was a wetland park near my house. It was previously a huge garbage incineration plant, but later it was transformed into a wetland park. Every weekend, or even every day, I would go there to explore, catching mantises or turtles. I think it was that environment that cultivated my current interest in animals and ecology,” Ye Lisiqi said in an interview with The Paper (www.thepaper.cn).
Based on these experiences and the desire to contribute to China’s climate action after returning home, he and his classmate Tang Baoxi initiated the “Carbon Point Plan,” a youth-driven campus carbon market project aimed at motivating schools and students to reduce carbon emissions and enhance environmental awareness through daily behaviors and innovative projects.
Tang Baoxi, also 17 years old, out of his love for economics, began conceptualizing how to apply economic principles to promote the concept of green and low-carbon living around him after completing research on the world’s carbon market during his summer vacation. He then thought of applying the carbon market mechanism to schools.
“I love nature and care about the environment, and he just happens to study economics, so we hit it off and wanted to create a campus carbon market project,” Ye Lisiqi said. “When mentioning the name ‘carbon market,’ the first impression is definitely about carbon trading by enterprises, and definitely not about schools. But the concept of a carbon market is actually quite applicable to campuses. The carbon reduction actions that a single student can take are quite limited, but there are so many students in China that together they can have a huge impact. By giving students certain rewards while reducing carbon, we can create a green competition among students, and then let schools compete with each other. I think this is a novel attempt.”
Ye Lisiqi believed, “As a second-year high school student, I cannot predict my future because there are too many possibilities for what may happen. But what we can do is to inspire our classmates to pay more attention to the environment and climate change, raise everyone’s awareness, and make the contributions we can for our country and society. The future is not important; what’s important is to be down-to-earth. We should try to bring change based on what we can see now.”
When talking about his feelings about participating in the climate conference, Ye Lisiqi said that his overall perspective and awareness had been elevated. “Before, we may have been limited to China because we were in high school and didn’t have much exposure to international affairs. But after coming to COP29, I feel that my horizons have broadened,” he said, pointing to the surrounding exhibition booths and venues. “I can just walk in and hear about the most cutting-edge content in this field, which gives me the opportunity to obtain more information to support our ‘Carbon Point Plan’.”
Because he likes birdwatching, Ye Lisiqi has found that climate change has a significant impact on birds. For example, there is a bird species called the White-headed Wagtail, which was originally a common bird species in southern China but has recently started “migrating north.” He believed that this was partly due to changes in habitats caused by human activities and partly because climate warming has made the north less cold, making it more suitable for these birds to survive.
“This is an example I have observed in my life,” he said. In terms of his personal impact, he has indeed felt it getting hotter, especially in summer. However, he mentioned that humans can use technology to alleviate the negative effects of climate change on their bodies, but the animal world or ecosystem cannot rely on technology to constantly adapt.
“I think this is not just a community with a shared future for mankind; it’s something that humans, as beings living in the embrace of Mother Earth, must consider,” Ye Lisiqi said.
Conducting a “City Check-up” for Baku
Azerbaijan, the host country of COP29, means “the land of fire” and is one of the world’s major energy exporting countries. During the climate conference, ten students from Shanghai Nord Anglia International Bilingual School conducted a “city check-up” of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. They walked through the streets, distributed questionnaires, conducted interviews, and personally understood the local residents’ perceptions and awareness of hosting the climate conference and the country’s proposed energy transition policies.
They observed that young people had a higher awareness of climate change and COP29 and were willing to participate in the surveys. However, some older people were relatively reluctant to discuss climate change. Some moderate individuals believed that the transition should not come at the cost of the economy, while some older people chose not to support the transition.
“Azerbaijan is a country dominated by oil exports. For these older people, the transition will affect every aspect of their lives, so they are not willing to accept these changes,” 15-year-old Liu Siyue speculated.
Liu Siyue, who is from Shanghai, gained her understanding of climate change from increasingly long summers: “I almost go out for classes every day in summer, so this has a significant impact. The heat affects both the body and the mind. When it’s hot, people can become irritable and sometimes even suffer from heatstroke.”
On November 17th, Yu Zhenkun, also from Shanghai Nord Anglia International Bilingual School, was sharing the city check-up report on Baku.
Yu Zhenkun, who is the same age, did not feel the physical impact as strongly. His understanding of climate change came more from government propaganda and social media. He felt that there was increasing emphasis on propaganda and actions related to climate change, and he realized that this might be a very serious challenge facing their generation in the future.
They participated in the city check-up of Baku. “This city check-up was also an eye-opener to see what everyone else is doing and then think about what we can do in our school,” Liu Siyue said. Her future choice of university majors may lean towards biology or chemistry, but outside of coursework, she will strive to promote a low-carbon lifestyle.
“I wasn’t that concerned about climate change before, but after being attracted by the school’s eco-school project and conducting more in-depth research, I realized the severity of this issue,” Yu Zhenkun said. Even if he may not choose a related major in the future, “I will never become an opponent of addressing climate change; I will become an advocate for it.”
Chen Jian, the principal of Shanghai Nord Anglia International Bilingual School, said in an interview with The Paper that as a bilingual school in Shanghai, it is necessary to connect students with the outside world to broaden their international perspectives. By conducting a city check-up of Baku, students can think about why a country dominated by fossil fuels can become the host of COP29 and consider the industrial directions that cities can choose in future transitions.
“We can see that many universities in the United States and around the world have launched sustainability schools, which represents that universities are closely connected with current social and industrial development. Therefore, we hope that children will have the opportunity to be exposed to this during their high school years, which will also facilitate a better combination of their future professional choices with our technological development, providing both macro thinking and practical significance,” Chen Jian said.
Chen Jian believed that although they are in Shanghai, students’ experience of extreme weather such as high temperatures is not very deep, so schools need to set up courses to help students understand the significance of addressing climate change.
Involving Students in “Zero-Carbon Campus”
As a school administrator, Yang Baocheng, Executive Director and Vice President of Huanghe Science and Technology College, shares the same idea as Chen Jian. As a university president, he faces a more realistic challenge – student employment.
At the COP29 site, Yang Baocheng shared his original intention of creating a “zero-carbon campus.” He said that with the successive introduction of “dual carbon” policies in recent years, the school has sensed that industries related to