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From 29 September to 1 October 2023, the 8th Model Climate Change on Conference of Parties (8th MCCCOP) was successfully co-organized by the UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia and the School of Environment, Tsinghua University and was co-hosted by the School of Environment of Tsinghua University and the Beijing No. 101 Middle School. This annual event is committed to encouraging young students to pay attention to and participate in climate change issues, and providing a professional platform for young people who are interested in climate issues to gain a deeper understanding of climate governance. The conference comprised two participants groups: university group and high school group. 240 delegates from Australia, China, France, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar and the United States, gathered in Beijing to participate in this event. At least 50 % of the participants were female.

At the opening ceremony of the event on 29 September, Prof. Liu Shuming, Dean of School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Dr Ai Sugiura, Programme specialist for Nature Sciences Sector, UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia, Prof. Xi Jinying, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee from School of Environment. Tsinghua University, Dr Huang Cheng from Center for Global Competence Development, Tsinghua University and Mr Zhao Jiajing, former UNFCCC Climate Policy Specialist, Dr Li Li, Project consultant from Nature Sciences Sector of UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office for East Asia, attended the opening ceremony. 

There are two main themes for this event, the Glasgow¨CSharm el-Sheikh work programme on the global goal on adaptation (GGA) and the Work programme for urgently scaling up mitigation ambition and implementation (MWP). The Glasgow-Sharm el-Sheikh work programme on the global goal on adaptation (GGA work programme) was created at COP26 in 2021 to help parties understand better and conceptualize and eventually achieve the adaptation goal, through developing a common understanding, establishing a framework, and agreeing on its key elements including the methodologies, metrics, indicators, and data sources to assess and monitor the progress. In MCCCOP8, delegates discussed the programme content, experienced the tense atmosphere of negotiating one of the most important topics of the Paris Agreement. At the 26th UNFCCC conference of the Parties (COP26), Glasgow Climate Pact (UNFCCC, 2021) acknowledged that limiting warming to 1.5?C requires a 45% reduction in global CO2 emissions by 2030 relative to 2010 levels. To achieve this reduction goal, the Parties agreed to establish a ¡°work programme to urgently scale up mitigation ambition and implementation in this critical decade¡±, which is well-known as Mitigation Work Programme (MWP). In this MCCCOP8, delegates focused on the negotiation on the objectives, timelines, inputs and outputs, scope, and modalities of MWP. MWP is closely related to Global Stocktake (GST). During the negotiation process, students were enthusiastically engaged in teamwork and demonstrated their enthusiasm and professionalism for the work of climate change negotiations. The university group conducted five negotiating sessions and the secondary school group conducted three sessions.

During the event, the organising committee also set up a variety of side events, roundtable discussions and carbon games to disseminate knowledge on climate change, promote carbon footprint monitoring and low-carbon living from various angles. Two online pre-event lectures were organized by inviting Professor Luo Yong from Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University and Mr Xie Canyang from the School of Environment, Tsinghua University to introduce the background knowledge and negotiation skills of the MCCCOP to the participants. Two roundtable-events were organized during the event. The roundtables are one of the featured sessions of this year's event. The events took the form of equal participation, created an open communication atmosphere and promotes the collision of diversified ideas. Special guests invited for the events shared the cutting-edge information and their practical and unique experience, and explored the new rising issues of global climate change with the delegates.  

The Zero Carbon Conference is an important innovation at this year's MCCCOP, breaking through the traditional conference format and granting environmental philosophy a whole new practical dimension. This segment closely integrated environmental protection with hands-on action, striving to engage every delegate in an immersive way in environmental actions through lively and vivid methods. In terms of conference materials renewable and reusable items were used for the MCCCOP event, such as conference backdrops are made of cardboard, name badges that can be taken home and planted to sprout, and material bags made from recycled plastic. These meticulous designs not only highlight the firm commitment to environmental protection but also provide a brand-new experience that is closely connected to nature. In cooperation with the Zero Carbon Association, the fun and interactive board games such as ¡®SDGs Industry Planning Master¡¯ and CYCAN¡¯s ¡®As Mysteries As Clouds and Rain Climate Board Game¡¯ also brought an exciting experience to the participants.  

This event is under the ¡°Accelerating Youth Climate Change Action¡± of the ¡°Accelerating Carbon Neutrality: Innovative Actions for Sustainable Development¡± project that is funded by China Youth Development Foundation-Mercedes Benz Star Fund.