First-year student to share UTM's sustainability initiatives at COP29 climate conference
When Vera Allue learned that she would be representing University of Toronto Mississauga at COP29, it reaffirmed her belief that she’d made the right choice as an international student dedicated to climate action.
“The support I received from UTM’s Sustainability Office to attend the conference showed me again that this is a place where I can thrive, a place that believes in students’ potential to affect change,” says Allue, a first-year student from Spain. “It only increased my commitment to work alongside the university in its goal of becoming a climate-positive campus.”
Allue will be at COP29 – the annual United Nations conference on climate change, this year running for two weeks in November in Azerbaijan. She’ll be spreading the word about UTM’s award-winning sustainability initiatives. Attending this preeminent global gathering is the culmination of her efforts to raise awareness about the importance of engaging with climate issues.
“I started a recycling and wastewater project in my community in Spain when I was 15,” says Allue, who is pursuing a double major in economics and political science with a minor in environmental law and policy. “I wanted to educate my peers about what they could do, because climate action is often perceived as something that belongs to powerful stakeholders.”
Since then, Allue joined several international organizations that encourage youth to play a part in politics and civil society, with a strong focus on environmental issues. She’s currently an European Union Young European Ambassador and a member of the European Youth Energy Network, which she will also represent at COP29 at the invitation of the EU.
Amplifying the voices of young people from diverse backgrounds is a passion for Allue, who spent a year travelling in Europe before coming to UTM this fall. “I had a chance to connect with individuals from many countries who are also trying to increase youth engagement in climate and politics,” she says.
As much as Allue loves Europe, she knew she wanted to go abroad for university. “It made sense given my interest in international affairs,” she says. “UTM seemed like the perfect spot for me to learn from people with different perspectives and backgrounds because of its multiculturalism.”
The university’s leadership in sustainability was a welcome surprise. “I knew everything here was very modern, and I noticed all the small but important ways that the campus promotes sustainability in areas like waste management and food services, but I didn’t know about the systems and infrastructure behind it,” she says. “Then I read UTM’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2043.”
Through its Climate Positive Plan, UTM is also committed to becoming climate positive by 2050.
In the short time she’s been a UTM student, Allue has joined student and university-wide groups dedicated to reaching this objective. She’s part of the UTM Sustainability Ambassador program and a member of the Student Association for Geography, Geomatics and the Environment (SAGE).
In 2023, the QS World University Rankings named U of T the most sustainable university in the world. “What’s happening at UTM is truly inspiring, and it’s an honour to spread awareness about it in the global community,” says Allue. At COP29, she’ll promote UTM’s educational and research programs on environmental issues and showcase its local strategies to address climate change.
When she returns, she’ll share the knowledge and experience she gained at the conference with the Sustainability Office and interested UTM community members.
“What I'm really looking forward to is bringing to COP29 the sense of belonging and pride that I feel in UTM’s climate action,” says Allue.
“When I first started contributing to the environmental field, I felt like my voice was barely heard. Now I feel so much optimism because I’ve found spaces like UTM that actively encourage young people to speak up and participate.”
