Shining at the world’s largest climate Olympiad

Year 2 Environmental Studies and NUS College (NUSC) student Judith KO had the unique opportunity to represent Singapore as a youth climate advocate when her proposal for the International Climate Science Olympiad 2022 emerged as one of the top three winners.

Judith’s team proposed a whole-of-society net zero plan to decarbonise Omaha’s energy supply and mitigate its socially inequitable and environmentally unsustainable urban sprawl.

She says, “The Olympiad was a refreshing opportunity to apply my conceptual understanding of global climate policy to real-world situations.” It also allowed her to interact with like-minded individuals who hope to positively influence the social realities of vulnerable global communities.

At the Conference of Parties (COP27), Judith spoke at segments at the Blue Zone, which brought together climate leaders from various sectors across government, industry and civil society to seed and spur climate solutions.

Her takeaways from COP27 were manifold. By presenting her plan to diplomats and climate experts, she gained insights into policymaking and sustainable development while engaging them on environmental policies and laws in the world today.  She also drew inspiration from the passion of youth panellists in leading policy action to effect constructive change.

These experiences, she says, shed valuable insights on the true meaning and impact of interdisciplinarity. She adds, “I have never fully grasped what ‘interdisciplinary’ entails, because I perceive knowledge as a coalescence of fluid ideas dynamically interacting with one another rather than content information methodically drawn from ‘contrasting’ disciplines.”

From her interactions with leading experts in climate policy, she learned the need to be sensitive to the complex web of political relationships between different countries, which often significantly impacts climate decisions. For instance, by attuning herself to geopolitical diplomatic realities, she became more cognisant of the motivations behind China’s non-cooperative climate actions with the United States.

She plans to gain exposure to broader experiences and working environments during her undergraduate candidature before deciding on her career pathway.

Read more about her winning proposal here!