Columbia launches climate study center in RJ – 03/14/2023 – Environment

Columbia University (USA), one of the most prestigious in the world, launched in Rio de Janeiro this Tuesday (14th) a regional research center on climate and environment. Entitled Climate Hub, the project will receive, until 2024, a total contribution of US$ 3 million from the Rio City Hall.

The amount, as announced by the municipal administration, began to be transferred in 2022. Local and international institutions also financially support the creation of the study laboratory.

The initiative is part of the Columbia Global Center program, which is present in ten countries. In Brazil, the entity has been operating since 2013, with Rio as its only headquarters in the country. Now, with the Climate Hub, the objective is to offer scholarships to Brazilian researchers and scientists who work in the climate area.

Those selected will be able to develop projects in Brazil and also in Columbia. The university, based in New York, was the first in the world to have a climate school, created in 2021.

The Museum of Tomorrow, in the central region of Rio, hosted the launch event. The Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, invited to a debate table, had to cancel her participation.

Hospitalized since Monday night (13), with flu symptoms, the minister was represented by the national secretary of Climate Change, Ana Toni, who criticized the management of former president Jair Bolsonaro on the environmental issue.

“Over the past four years, the federal government has moved backwards on the issue of climate change. Civil servants who have this agenda as a priority were unable to do more, there was no space. The new government treats the climate as a central issue”, stated the secretary.

Celso Amorim, former chancellor and head of the Presidency’s special advisory service, also reinforced the urgency of the issue. “Climate is not just another issue. It is a topic of great transversality, present in legal processes, integration and even war and peace. Climate issues generate migration problems, conflicts of various types”.

Professionals from the faculty of Columbia University will be invited to work at the unit in Rio, installed in a room in the center of the city, in educational programs with the network of local researchers.

The Climate Hub also intends to organize events related to the theme and participate directly in public policy actions related to the climate, in the municipality of Rio and nationally.

“The last few years have been a period of conflict. The planet continues to heat up, devastating nations, decimating biodiversity. Climate is a key issue, especially in coastal cities that live with the danger of rising seas, deforestation and heat islands , like Rio,” commented Thomas Trebar, director of the Columbia Global Centers in Rio.

The mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes (PSD), reinforced the attempt to make the capital of Rio de Janeiro a central municipality in the environmental debate. There is a desire in the city hall for the National Authority for Climate Security, linked to the Ministry of the Environment and announced by the new government in January, to be headquartered in Rio.

“President Lula knows the vocation of this city, he knows that those who look at the climate in Brazil have Rio as a reference. I talked to President Lula on his last visit, we talked about it, he made that face of lettuce, fern, but I know he has a special affection for me and will consider it”, said Paes.

The municipal secretary of the Civil House, Eduardo Cavaliere, former leader of the Environment portfolio, stated that the partnership with the university foresees that the city hall commissions studies on the climate and trains employees in the laboratory. The municipality also wants the Climate Hub to create educational projects for the population.

“We have a two-year work plan ahead of us, renewing Rio’s relationship with Columbia and placing the climate agenda, which is so important for the city. Here is a place where climate thinking is at the forefront. then mayor [Marcelo Crivella] ended with the Secretary of the Environment. When Mayor Eduardo Paes was elected, one of the commitments was to reposition the city in the debate”, said Cavaliere.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}