International roundtable "The role of CIS universities in combating climate change"

On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, an international roundtable "The role of CIS universities in combating climate change" was held on the Zoom platform. Olga Petrova, head of the Green Campus project, and Valeria Parubchishina, a student of group 22-BJ-1, an activist of the Clover eco-club, took part in the event from D. Serikbayev EKTU. She conducts student scientific work on the study of the problem of carbon neutrality.

The roundtable was organized by the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for the Development of Higher Education and Science and the autonomous non-profit organization Academy 2030.

The meeting was moderated by Yuri Sedin, Executive Secretary of the Commission for the Development of Science and Higher Education of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, and Mikhail Yelkin, Director of the Academy 2030.

The roundtable was held with the support of the Public Chamber of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The following speakers were invited: the Vice-rector for Academic and methodological work of the NRU of the Kyrgyz Economic University named after M. Ryskulbekova Dinara Tursunalieva; Dean of the Faculty of Management of Ala-Too International University (AIU) Bekimbetova Turdukan; Chairman of the Committee on Ecology and Sustainable Development Models of the Public Chamber of the EAEU Nekrasova Marina; Olga Petrova, Head of the Green Campus project at D. Serikbayev EKTU; National Expert of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, Professor of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University Cherednichenko Alexander; Head of the Department of Chemical Technology, Ecology and Labor Protection of the National Polytechnic University of Armenia Hayk Akarmazyan Ayk; Head of the Center for Sustainable Development Management at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University, expert of the Russian Academy of Sciences Konstantinidi Khristofor.

The participants of the meeting analyzed the methods used by universities to create climate strategies, as well as internal and external factors that encourage universities to develop such strategies. The international standards, recommendations and local experiences underlying climate initiatives were reviewed. The experts studied the role of universities in the Eurasian region in the creation of climate strategies, exchanged experiences and methods, identified the motivation of higher education institutions and external factors contributing to their participation in the climate agenda.

Climate challenges pose a new challenge for universities — to integrate the climate agenda into their activities. In recent years, universities in Russia, Central Asia and the CIS countries have become more active in developing climate strategies based on international standards and local experience.

The following theses were included in the resolution of the round table from the representatives of our university:

• To provide universities with more systematic information on strategies to combat climate change in order to integrate the climate agenda into their activities;
• Offering small training courses and educational modules for university staff that focus on climate policy, climate change and sustainability;
• Cooperation with experts and organizations in the field of climate policy to share experiences and promote climate strategies in universities;
• Expanding the experience of large scientific, educational and administrative green projects (Green universities in Russia, Carbon supersites and others) in the CIS countries.
• Organizing more dialogue platforms to involve students in scientific and educational activities on climate change issues.

The round table became a platform for discussing university approaches to the creation and implementation of climate strategies, sharing successful practices and recommendations.