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Global Universities Unite to Build Net-Zero Campuses as COP30 Concludes

30 November 2025, Belém, Brazil / Pune, India: While negotiators at COP30 debated on the shrinking time for 1.5°C-window, a powerful sprout of on-ground climate-action leadership emerged from the Global South.

The Association of Amazonian Universities (UNAMAZ) and India-based Green Terre Foundation (GTF) signed a landmark MoU to accelerate the Net-Zero University Campus Movement under the global movement of Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN). The signing took place in Belem, Brazil on 19th November when the COP30 was in the thick of negotiations.

The partnership has linked 64 universities from eight countries in Amazonia with 550+ SCCN campuses across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This partnership has formed the world’s first Amazonian –Himalayan climate bridge of youth. The collaboration aims to equip youth with green skills, promote measurable Net-Zero actions, and strengthen community-level climate resilience.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dr. José Seixas Lourenço, President of UNAMAZ, stated: “We cannot keep negotiating COP after COP without action. This partnership with GTF has already mobilised eight UNAMAZ member-countries-Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela to meet climate targets in their university campus.. The leadership from the Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana (UNAP) in Iquitos, headed by Professor Luis Campos Baca, has already set to launch the Net Zero campus.”

This partnership symbolizes ‘Amazon-meets-Himalaya’ and comes along with the strongest ever message from COP30 that reveals that implementation remains the weakest link in global climate governance. The UNAMAZ–GTF alliance directly responds to strengthen this link by operationalising climate action through network of youth in universities rather than waiting solely for negotiated financial and policy commitments, that are not being implemented.

Dr. Rajendra Shende, former UNEP Director and Founder of GTF, emphasised the timing, “COP30 discussions and decisions highlight the urgency of implementation. Universities are the world’s largest ‘living-laboratories’ with potential to move from ‘ paper-progress to targeted transformation’. The youth in Universities are the most powerful future climate-workforce and human capital. Through experiential learning, united Amazon and Himalayan institutions can accelerate climate action.”

Dr. María de Nazaré Oliveira Imbiriba, Executive Secretary of UNAMAZ, added, “This partnership brings together Indigenous wisdom, technology prowess and digital knowledge to power the global climate innovation to achieve Net Zero. Our students have now joined a worldwide network of universities shaping Net Zero and sustainable futures. With this alliance, we are going to transform universities across Amazonian countries. Together, we can lead a revolution.”

With Amazonian, African and South Asian regions home to some of the world’s largest youth populations, the initiative positions universities as central drivers of implementation of climate solutions, with the force of ‘Global Mutirao’ for reducing emissions, strengthening adaptation and resilience, and building the green-skills required for a Net-Zero world.

The MOU signing was cheered by youth across the globe. It also supports another launch of UDCs (University Determined Contributions) by GTF and YOUNGO Energy constituency of UNFCCC.

The signing at the UNAMAZ Pavilion at COP30, symbolised the growing role university youth in translating global ambition into climate action through the 3-C-roadmap : Campus to Communities to Countries.

Note to Editors:

Green TERRE Foundation ( GTF) is a not-for profit organisation in India. It is a global and local youth forum for sustainable solutions for our developmental imperatives. By nurturing the planet’s ecosystem GTF facilitates universities and higher to mainstream the future policy-makers and policy-implementers through experiential learnings. It encourages the deployment of digital technologies to speed and scale the sustainability.

Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN) (www.sccnhub.com) is a flagship project of Green TERRE Foundation. SCCN is a Global Network of 550+ Universities and Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) from 15 countries that localises Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Net Zero in their campuses. SCCN is mentored by Erik Solheim, (former Minister of Environment of Norway as well as former USG of United Nations), Ovais Sarmad former Dy Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, Prakash Javadekar (former Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change) and Dr Vijay Bhatkar former Chancellor of Nalanda University.

UNAMAZ (Amazonian Universities Association) is a regional network of 64 universities across the Amazon basin committed to strengthening academic cooperation, scientific research, and innovation for the protection and sustainable development of the Amazon. The network engages students, researchers, and local communities to advance climate action, biodiversity conservation, and indigenous knowledge systems, while promoting the use of digital technologies for environmental monitoring and sustainable resource management. UNAMAZ works closely with governments and international organisations to support evidence-based policies that safeguard the people and ecosystems of the Amazon. END

For interviews, additional statements, or visuals from the signing ceremony, please contact:

Green Terre Foundation (GTF): Dr. Rajendra Shende, Founder-Director, Green TERRE Foundation : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UNAMAZ: Prof. Dr. José Seixas Lourenço, President, UNAMAZ : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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