Education

COP30 Space

With the aim of bringing the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the university community, we have set up a dedicated space from November 10 to 21, 2025. Located in the lobby of the Margalef Building at the Faculty of Biology, this space allows students to follow live broadcasts, consult newsletters with updates on the negotiations, and access guides on the role of observers in these events.

The space offers an immersive experience and invites students to share their reflections. In addition, it includes a bibliographic selection on sustainability and climate change compiled by the Faculty's CRAI. This initiative is complemented by two sessions (an opening and a closing) where the conclusions and key moments of the summit will be analyzed.

Climate Corps Summer School 2025 

The Hub for Global Sustainability participated in the summer school organized by Korea University, which took place in Seoul from July 6 to 13, 2025, titled “Cross-Border Collaboration to Address the Climate Crisis.” The UB delegation included the three student winners of the call for grants issued by the Vice-Rectorate for Sustainability and Climate Action to participate in this event.

The initiative, called Climate Corps, brought together representatives from thirty-five universities from around the world. The goal was to provide a platform for collaboration between disciplines and institutions, facilitate the exchange of knowledge, foster innovative solutions, and drive the implementation of strategies to combat the climate crisis.

Throughout the week, the students—mentored by the teaching staff—worked in interdisciplinary groups on various challenges encompassing the areas of urban resilience, agriculture, energy governance, climate education, water management, policies for systemic change, carbon capture, and the circular economy. The proposals resulted in the development of a research proposal, policy recommendations, or a business plan. You can find below the work of the groups formed by students: Denise Fieldmann, Lea Yamamoto, and Xinyuan He. 

 

Eyes of the Future competition

At the UB, we not only work to generate activities related to the fight against climate change but also seek to join existing initiatives. On 5 March 2025, nine students from the faculties of Law, Biology, Psychology and Chemistry took part in a competition organized by the Coimbra Group in association with Utrecht University. 
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During the event, teams of students worked to address challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals using Utrecht2040, a mobile application developed by the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. By completing various tasks, the students were able to reflect on the urban environment of Barcelona and propose solutions for designing the cities of the future.

Key proposals include installing waste bins with recycling options in public areas, planting native varieties of trees, and replacing asphalted squares with community gardens. Other suggestions included the creation of green spaces to promote biodiversity and mitigage the heat island effect and the installations of beehives on rooftops. The students also placed a particular focus on aspects of the urban landscape that are often overlooked, such as the availability of charging stations for electric vehicles on university sites and the continued presence of hostile architecture around the city.

Commitment to the 2030 Agenda

We are committed to the training of teachers to ensure the presence of social responsibility and sustainable development in both teaching and research activities. Through the Institute of Professional Development we have organized several training courses that help promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the 2030 Agenda, including the following​​​​​​​:
  • The 2030 Agenda as a resource for critical education in global citizenship​​​​​​​
  • ​​​​​​​Sustainability and the SDGs in our teaching: let's take action!​​​​​​​
  • ​​​​​​​Now more than ever, consume energy responsibly! SDGs and the 2030 Agenda
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Sustainability and teaching

The University of Barcelona coordinates CHARM-EU, a European University alliance co-funded under the Erasmus+ programme and established together with Trinity College Dublin, Utrecht University, the University of Montpellier and Eötvös Loránd University Budapest.​ Through the alliance, the UB seeks to build a sustainable future, implementing innovative, transdisciplinary forms of learning and offering students the master's degree in Global Challenges for Sustainability.

Outside the CHARM-EU framework, the University strives to integrate knowledge of sustainable development and climate change into all of its studies, irrespective of the branch of knowledge. As described in the Sustainability Report for the academic year 2021-2022, the University will design an online subject for bachelor's degree students specifically to foster greater understanding of sustainability issues.
 

Climate emergency in the Mediterranean

As part of the Climate Emergency in the Mediterranean event, the UB hosted a university simulation of the United Nations Annual Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP27), organized in collaboration with PRIMA (a European Union scientific innovation programme involving and nineteen Mediterranean countries), the Vives Network of Universities, and Pompeu Fabra University. The event brought together undergraduate, master's and doctoral students, and their proposals and conclusions were presented at the COP27 summit held in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt).