The 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) is underway in the Egyptian coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh. The summit, the largest annual gathering on climate action, will be attended by Heads of State, ministers, academics, CEOs and climate activists from across the world - including a delegation from Cambridge.

Badges to attend the conference are limited and highly sought after - but several Cambridge students have acquired them and are headed to Egypt to observe the climate discussions. Varsity spoke to some of those who are taking time out of term to attend the conference.

One of them is May Zhao, a second-year student studying Land Economy at Fitzwilliam College. She was at COP26 in Glasgow last year, and is now attending COP27 as a delegate for the China Youth Climate Action Network (CYCAN), an organisation whose aim is to empower China’s youth to take action. Since arriving in Egypt last week, she told Varsity she has attended some fringe events and met with Chinese delegates from other universities - but the real work started when the Conference officially kicked off on Sunday (6/11). Her role, as a student, is to represent the younger generation.

“Youth engagement is a very critical issue for COPs”, May told Varsity. She hopes that “having the younger generation there can motivate politicians and official delegates from different countries to actually take action”. She says that the presence of young people at COP is crucial, because scholars, activists and Heads of State are often touched by the scale of youth ambition on climate change.

Cambridge doesn’t take a break for COP - attending the climate summit has meant that she’s missing out on the notorious ‘week five blues’. But, she says, her supervisors have all been supportive. Studying Land Economy, there’s a direct relation to the issues being discussed as COP, and she sees her week in Egypt as an opportunity to enrich her degree knowledge. “I think my professors are jealous”, she told Varsity. May’s missing several supervisions and essay deadlines to attend the conference; “but when I told my professor he just said he wished he could come with me”, she laughs.

Another Cambridge representative is Hannah Harrison, who graduated from Fitzwilliam College last year, and now works in climate education in Cambridge. Having worked remotely with non-profit organisation ClimaTalk during last year’s COP, this year she’s attending COP27 as a communications delegate for the Future Leaders Network.

Her advice for anyone going? “Don’t fall into the trap of just talking to the people from the country that you’re from”. She wants to use this opportunity to meet people from all over the world and work together in sharing their progress on youth climate objectives. She’s also wary of posting things about the conference on social media. COP can, she says, be an “exclusionary space”, in which you see “the same faces over and over again”. She wants to “highlight the experience of those who aren’t often given the spotlight” - especially those from the Global South.

Rachael Parker Allen, a PhD student at Darwin College , is also headed to Sharm El Sheikh for the second week of climate negotiations. She’s going as a delegate for the European Youth Forum, and got a badge through her work with Generation Climate Europe, the largest youth climate NGO in Europe.

How does it feel to leave the ‘Cambridge bubble’ for something so momentous? “Very exciting”, she tells Varsity - “I know I’m going to learn so much”.

Rachael also highlighted the significance of the summit happening in Egypt. “The African continent is obviously a place which is experiencing a lot of the loss and damage we’re already seeing from climate change - I’m excited to see if that’s going to shift anything in the negotiations”.

Other student delegates from the University include Laura Lock, a second-year undergraduate and the President of Cambridge Climate Society, and Anna Gardener, an MPhil who is also attending as a delegate for the Future Leaders Network.

It’s not just climate policy and panel events that will distract the students from academic life back home. Students in Sharm El Sheikh told Varsity about the wealth of recreational activities on offer - from scuba diving to guided trips up Mount Sinai.

COP27 is taking place from 6th November to the 18th November 2022, in the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh.