On May 10, the GW Environmental and Energy Management Institute (EEMI) gathered colleagues from the United Arab Emirates and representatives from organizations such as the World Bank, USDA, U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council, and the Business Council for International Understanding for a Climate Ministerial Summit in Washington, D.C. to address the pressing issue of climate change and the need for global action. Discussions were moderated by EEMI Director, Professor Jonathan Deason, and discussants included Professors Caitlin Grady and Payman Dehghanian and Engineering Management and Systems Engineering graduate students Rashed Aldhaheri, Rashed Aldarmaki, and Khalfan Aldhaheri.
EEMI is a University-wide institute that works to advance human knowledge applicable to pragmatic, implementable, non-regulatory, next-generation self-governance solutions primarily focused on national and international standards for environmental, energy, and sustainability management. They are currently working on four initiatives leading up to and beyond COP 28, which they presented to event attendees. These initiatives include:
- Capacity building to help developing nations participate more strongly in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes, which follows up on work in this area EEMI recently completed for the UNFCCC Secretariat
- Youth empowerment in climate change and food security
- Post-war reconstruction of the Ukrainian agricultural sector, which has been an active EEMI program since the war started
- Aid in bringing national defense resources more efficiently into efforts to help with climate-impacted food security and other climate-induced problems
The leaders of each initiative at EEMI provided an overview of the actions currently underway and their vision for further progress. The purpose was to open a discussion around these initiatives to gain attendees’ insights and experiences on the topics at hand and seek sponsorship from them. EEMI is committed to continuing its efforts to address the challenges posed by climate change and is grateful for the support and welcomes new partners and sponsorships in this crucial work.