Following a thorough review of the Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) Climate Action Plan, the Lebanon Climate Act team announced on Friday, September 28, 2018, that NDU had joined the list of climate change champions 2018. The announcement was made during the “3rd Annual Ceremony of the Lebanon Climate Act” that was held at Le Royal Hotel Dbayeh, during the “9th International Beirut Energy Forum.”
The event featured the following keynote speakers: UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme in Lebanon Philippe Lazzarini; Chairman of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Lebanon (FCCIAL) Mohamed Choucair, represented by FCCIAL External Relations Manager Rola Sleiman; Green Mind (NGO) President Nada Zaarour; and First Vice-Governor of Banque du Liban (via a video message) Dr. Raed Charafeddine.
Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NDU, Dr. Sophia Ghanimeh stated that NDU made the strategic decision of consolidating the University environmental goals into a comprehensive Environmental Sustainability Action Plan, and joining the UN Global Compact (UNGC) network, reflecting a firm commitment to the UN sustainability development goals.
As per NDU’s sustainability webpage: http://www.ndu.edu.lb/sustainability
She added, “Education is an essential element in the concerted effort to combat climate change. Not only we need to provide our students with more knowledge about climate change and its impacts, but also we need to educate them about their role in mitigating and eventually adapting to climatic variability and change.”
Ghanimeh also announced, “NDU has launched an interdisciplinary minor titled, ‘Climate Change and Sustainability Policy,’ which offers students across all Faculties the opportunity to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to become an ‘agent of change’ at the national and international levels.”
The Lebanon Climate Act aims at creating economic growth in a way that also creates value for society by addressing the challenges of climate change. By joining the Lebanon Climate Act, companies and institutions will demonstrate their continual engagement to climate action. As part of this initiative, each company/institution will set actions to reduce its environmental and carbon footprint, increase low-carbon investments, deploy more clean energy, and build more sustainable businesses and communities to tackle climate change.