Climate Hub | Rio: Columbia University launches research and connections center on climate change based in Brazil
Several foreign and Brazilian authorities are set to participate in the climate hub launch event on March 14.
In the year it celebrates a decade of activity, the Columbia Global Centers | Rio de Janeiro, one of the 10 global centers of studies, research, and academic incentives at Columbia University, in New York, announces the launch of the Climate Hub, an entity created to act specifically in the area of climate and the environment, through an initiative by Columbia University, the first in the world to create a specific school on climate, in 2021, sponsored by the City Hall of Rio de Janeiro and local and international supporters.
The Climate Hub launch event will be held on March 14th, at the Museum of Tomorrow, Rio de Janeiro, and will feature the participation of the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva; Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes; Celso Amorim, special adviser to the presidency of the republic and former minister of foreign affairs; Alex Halliday, dean of the Columbia Climate School; Thomas Trebat, director of the Columbia Global Center Rio; Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, executive vice president for Columbia Global; Daniel Zahili, special advisor for Climate and Sustainability at Columbia University and former chief climate policy advisor of New York City, as well as several Brazilian and foreign authorities in the fields of climate and environment, human rights, public policy, technology, and innovation.
The event is open to the public, with registration open through the official website of the Columbia
Global Center Rio.
The Climate Hub's goal is to promote broader cooperation between the academic community at Columbia University and Brazil, not just limited to greater access to Columbia in New York or specific topics. For this, in addition to exchanging knowledge, the Climate Hub will offer scholarships to Brazilian researchers and scientists, to develop projects in the country and also at Columbia University, in New York.
The Climate Hub will be an entity within the Columbia Global Center Rio, acting as a dedicated regional hub for Brazilian educational and research initiatives in the area of climate and environment. The Hub will be a knowledge, research, and innovation hub to attract talent related to all aspects of climate change in Brazil. Bringing together experts from Brazil, Columbia University, and the world, in an enabling environment for scientists and other researchers to work on global climate issues while benefiting from an important regional perspective. The Climate Hub will also enable more effective collaboration and outreach between local leaders in Brazil and the global scientific community.
Thus, institutional collaboration will allow those who rarely access Columbia University to co-produce with scientists and researchers from the institution. It will also enable Columbia University to act in a more territorialized, assertive way and have access to knowledge produced by researchers from the Global South.
The Climate Hub should approach grassroots movements, acting as a bridge between these two universes, facilitating and amplifying the effective participation of different parties in the global climate agenda.
The choice of Rio as the Hub's headquarters reinforces the city's pioneering spirit and long history in actions related to climate issues, having hosted ECO-92, Rio+20, and whose mayor, Eduardo Paes, was president of the C40, the Big Cities for Climate Leadership group.
From teaching to action: Climate Hub will have four main activity models
The Climate Hub will be organized around four main activities.
Teaching: Columbia faculty participation in educational programs to be developed at the Hub.
Convocation: development and organization of events and programming around diverse climate-related issues, including energy transition, land use, and climate equity.
Network: creation of connections between academic talents, with the aim of promoting research and, above all, expanding the dissemination outside of Brazil of the work and results developed by the Hub and partner educational institutions.
Action: Make a concrete impact on climate policy actions locally in Rio de Janeiro, nationally in Brazil, and globally through the Columbia University network.