On the afternoon of October 15, 2021, the "United Nations Sustainable Development Youth Empowerment Program for High School Students in Jing'an District—Green Financiers: Circular Economy and Carbon Neutrality", organized by the Education Bureau of Jing'an District, co-organized by Shanghai Jing'an Education Cooperation & Exchange Center and Shanghai No. 1 High School, kicked start at Shanghai No. 1 High School.

Since 2020, President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated on major occasions that China will increase its nationally determined contributions, adopt stronger policies and measures, and strive to peak CO₂ emissions by 2030 and work towards the visionary goal of carbon neutrality by 2060.

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and China's carbon neutrality goal; By designing an innovative project in support of the UN SDGs through a combination of upstream improvement design with environmental goals and group member collaboration, students will master effective thinking models in the face of real-world complex issues in order to improve their ability to innovate, communicate, work in teams and be socially responsible.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Liu Junjiang, vice principal of Shanghai No. 1 High School, and Ms. Chen Lin, program director of Shanghai Jing'an Education Cooperation & Exchange Center, expressed their hopes and requirements for the students participating in the program. They hoped that the students would work hard to learn knowledge, broaden their horizons, improve their abilities, enjoy learning, and learn to listen, think independently, and work together in the learning process, so that they could become globally competent and useful people in the future.

The lecturer, Ms. Ru, first gave a brief introduction to the whole green finance program. Students learned about the United Nations and its 17 goals through a video. They learned the causes and consequences of climate change, and how they can contribute to the 17 goals as high school students.

Next, through the game "The End of the World", the students felt the huge impact of global climate change on the human living environment and deeply understood the close relationship between the carbon neutrality goals and climate change.

 
The classroom was full of laughter, and students listened to the lecture and gained knowledge in a relaxed atmosphere. From natural phenomena such as global warming, rising sea levels, greenhouse effect and greenhouse gas emissions to the topic of carbon neutrality, students gradually realized that this is not only a major issue that countries in the world need to face together, but also a small matter that every global citizen should get involved themselves.

In the end, students brainstormed in small groups on how they, as high school students, can contribute to the UN climate change goals through practical actions. The colorful sticky notes were filled with the students' ideas; the beautiful posters recorded the wonderful interactive moments of the class; the group photo of the teachers and students brought the first session to a successful conclusion.

Display of posters made by student groups (swipe left and right for more)