Since 2011, the United Nations Environment Program and Tongji University have jointly established the "International Student Environment and Sustainability Conference". With the strong support of the Agricultural Bank of China, the Beijing Green Future Environment Foundation and Xinhua Agency, it has been successfully held for 11 times. More than 3000 Chinese and foreign students from more than 50 countries gather in Tongji on the occasion of World Environment Day every year, making the conference a global event focusing on future leaders of sustainable development. It is also the one with the largest number of participants and the most influential sustainable development. One of the Youth Summit provides a platform for young students around the world to exchange and discuss major environmental issues, and also provides cross-professional, cross-disciplinary and cross-border learning opportunities for students interested in environmental protection.
Starting from 2021, the conference will hold the Global Environmental Solutions Challenge Competition to solicit solutions in the field of environment and sustainable development from school students, and invite students from around the world to form teams freely to participate in the competition. At the same time, representatives from academia, business circles, international organizations and non-governmental organizations are invited to participate in delivering keynote speeches to share the latest global initiatives and local policies in the field of sustainable development, as well as the most cutting-edge industrial technology solutions.
1. Issues
Focusing on the theme of World Environment Day 2023 "Solutions to Plastic Pollution", four different directions of topics are set: "Human health, circular economy, climate change, and waste-free cities." Contestants can choose the topic direction they are interested in and form teams to register for the competition. Each participating team can choose one topic direction of interest. The topics will be based on the "first-come, first-served" principle. The maximum registration limit for each topic is 100 groups, sorted according to the order of registration and closed while the application is full.
Your solution can refer to but is not limited to the following topic descriptions.
Topic 1: Human health
Plastic pollution not only causes serious damage to the environment, but also brings potential harm to human health. Plastic particles may enter the food chain and be ingested into our bodies through food and water sources, thus adversely affecting our health. How to educate the public to properly handle and recycle plastic waste to minimize plastic waste? How to quantify and control plastic pollution while preventing microplastics from affecting human health?
Topic 2: Circular economy
The global production and consumption of plastic products continue to increase, but the recycling rate of waste plastics is very low. In the plastics industry, the practices of circular economy mainly include packaging designs that are easier to recycle, innovation in recycling chains, and renewable plastics that are cheaper and safer. How to make plastic products of different materials form a closed loop of production-consumption-recycling, reduce the generation of plastic waste, and reduce the production of new plastics? How to ensure health risks in the plastic cycle? How to increase recycling rates by changing consumer behavior?
Topic 3: Climate change
The production of plastic products requires a large amount of fossil energy and also emits a large amount of greenhouse gases. It is estimated that plastic products produced around the world produce more than 400 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year, which is equivalent to nearly a quarter of global automobile exhaust emissions. How to recycle engineering plastics and continue to reduce the carbon intensity of industrial products such as automobiles? How to quantify the impact of global plastic production and plastic pollution on climate change?
Topic 4: Waste-free cities
In the construction of waste-free cities, plastic waste is the key. We should actively promote sustainable plastic substitutes and recycling technologies, and at the same time improve urban plastic waste management measures. How to make urban solid waste management more refined and realize the classification and recycling of plastics at the community level? How to control plastic pollution in all aspects of urban construction, including transportation, buildings and other infrastructure?
2. Registration
There are two ways to participate in this challenge. First of all, you can register as a [contestant] to compete for competition honors and scholarships. This challenge only accepts team participation. Participants must first form their own teams before completing registration.
In addition to participants, they can also choose to register as an "Observer" for this challenge. Observers can vote for the solutions they support and select the one with the most potential in their minds.
contestant registration
- Eligibility:
This challenge is open to the world, regardless of age and nationality. Students from colleges and universities (including higher vocational colleges, undergraduate and graduate students) can participate.
- Specific requirements are as follows:
Contestants form teams to participate in the competition, and the number of players in each group is 2-4; Competitors should ensure that the registration information is accurate and effective. If the player information in the team does not meet the requirements, the organizing committee has the right to cancel the entire team's qualifications and rewards.
- Specific registration method:
The team captain first registers in the official registration system for the challenge, and the system automatically generates an invitation link. It will be sent by the captain to the team members. The team members need to click the invitation link within 3 days to complete the subsequent registration process, otherwise they will be deemed to have failed to register. Team leaders can check the progress of team members 'registration on the personal page of the system.
Observer registration
- Registration qualifications:
People from all walks of life who are interested in environmental issues can register to become observers of this competition.
- Voting method:
After registering as an observer, log in to the registration system within the specified time to vote.
end of registration
Deadline for registering and submitting works for participating teams: From now until 18:00 on April 15, 2023 (UTC+8)
Observer registration deadline: June 3, 2023, 14:00 (UTC+8)
registry site
Official registration system for the conference: isces.tongji.edu.cn/
3. Competition system
01 The organizing committee announced all topics related to the Global Student Environmental Solutions Challenge;
02 Before April 15, 2023, participating teams need to log in to the registration system to confirm the competition, propose solutions to plastic pollution through teamwork, and submit works in the system;
03 April 15, 2023 at 18:00 (UTC+8), the entry channel will be closed;
04 From April 15 to April 24, 2023, the Challenge Review Committee will review the qualifications of the registered teams and conduct a preliminary review of the entries. The team will be announced at 18:00 pm on April 24 (UTC+8). List;
05 From April 24 to May 10, 2023, a team of experts and scholars inside and outside the school will review the works selected for the semi-finals, and will be scored based on the relevance (25%), innovation (25%), and feasibility (25%)., promotion (25%), and the winning team's works will be finally selected;
06 On June 5, 2023, the winning team will showcase and introduce solutions to the world at the International Student Environment and Sustainable Development Conference.
4. Award setting
The conference established 1 champion team award, 2 runner-up team awards, and 3 runner-up team awards, which were selected by the judges. The conference established 1 champion team award, 2 runner-up team awards, and 3 runner-up team awards, which were selected by the judges;1 most popular award was selected by the observers.
- The champion team will receive a bonus of 10000 yuan (before tax)
Special note: In addition to the bonus, the champion team will also be invited to participate in the International Student Environment and Sustainable Development Conference held in Shanghai on June 5, 2023, and will receive round-trip transportation and accommodation scholarship subsidies.
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The runner-up team will receive a bonus of RMB 6000 (before tax)
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The third-place team will receive a bonus of RMB 4000 (before tax)