Students, associations, and scientific, economic and political players joined forces to challenge the current system. Over 1,100 people attended the event on 6 October and around 700 on 7 October – nearly double the number of participants expected. Around 30 inspirational speakers were present at Cop1 Etudiante. They contributed to raising awareness through lectures, debates, and conversations at various get-togethers ranging from plenary sessions and public debates to small chat groups.
Through talks, debates and various workshops, the event aimed to demonstrate the need to become aware and take action. Léna Felderhoff, a SKEMA student and project leader of the COP1 Etudiante, said, “We are in a process – a wake-up call. The COP1 is sowing the seeds. It’s now up to you to stage your own COP1 in your country or city.”
“For us, waking up means becoming aware of a systemic crisis, where the climate is a currently symptom before becoming a problem,” asserted Nicolas Hassanaly, a SKEMA student and one of the event‘s co-organisers.
This event, which has been gaining impetus and has been initiated, prepared and organised for over a year as part of SKEMA Business School’s Sustainable Innovation programme, took shape through the involvement of its leader Mélanie Ciussi. It has spilled beyond the confines of SKEMA and taken wing through the involvement of its team members – 62 volunteers from over 20 different universities and schools (medicine, architecture, engineering, etc.).
The various associations that are part of the team include Le Refedd, FFJ, Enactus France, Youth for Climate France, Genius Global, the Manifeste étudiant pour un réveil écologique, Animafac, NOISE, JAC, CliMates in France, Together for Earth, Onestpret and UNEDESEP (Union Nationale des Etudiants en Droit, Gestion, AES, Sciences Economiques, Politique et Sociales).
Also, UNEAP (Union Nationale des Etudiants en Architecture), Little Citizens For Climate, BNEI (Bureau National des Élèves Ingénieurs), Low Carbon France, La Bascule, FENEPSY (Fédération Nationale des Étudiants en Psychologie), FNEB (Fédération Nationale des Étudiants en sciences exactes, naturelles et techniques), and CNJE (Confédération Nationale des Junior-Entreprises).
The participants made over 300 individual commitments to transform their immediate environment during the two days.
Élisabeth Borne, the French Minister of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition, came to “join up with the community-spirited convention” and propose a commitment to those taking part. “I would like you, as students, to challenge our public policies,” she said.
New COP1 Etudiante events are being planned for 2020. Nantes and Grenoble have already prepared themselves. A COP1 is scheduled to take place in the next few months in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and in Casablanca, Morocco, in the spring of 2020.
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