Beijing school honored with sustainability prize

Editor's note: As COP28 takes place in the UAE, this page looks at the efforts and the initiatives the UN conferences have championed as well as the global pledge to fight climate change.

A school from the People's Republic of China has won recognition at the prestigious Zayed Sustainability Prize awards ceremony held on Dec 1 at the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, in Dubai.

Beijing No 35 High School's students Tang Yingxi, 17, and Jiang Huanlin, 18, along with their teacher Peng Minjie, bagged the Global High School awards in the East Asia and Pacific categories for their vacuum glass solar, or photovoltaic, panels.

The panels can insulate heat and sound, and generate electricity simultaneously. They can also be applied to electric cars for emergency electricity generation, according to a video released by the Zayed Sustainability Prize.

Tang told China Daily they will use their prize money of $100,000 to replace some of the window glasses at their school as a test run to get their test data one year later. He said the data will be used "to improve our products and make them bigger".

Jiang said his role was mainly to construct the new glass for data collection and observation.

Peng said the award couldn't have come at a better time as their school is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year.

"At first, we thought we would not win because I had heard what previous winners had said about their products that had benefited so many people. And ours would benefit just 1,000 (in our school)," Peng told China Daily.

She said she thinks that one of the reasons for Tang and Jiang to get the prize perhaps lies in the importance of designing those new materials for the school.

Visiting the UAE for the first time, Peng and her students met UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who presented the awards to the 11 winners covering six categories at a ceremony attended by high-level guests.

Other winners included Kelp Blue of Namibia in the climate change category. Their creation has contributed to the restoration process of the natural ocean by cultivating seaweeds in deep waters.

Expanding access

In the health section, Indonesia's doctorSHARE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding healthcare access in remote regions, received the award for creating floating hospitals.

In the energy category, the winner was Ignite Power from Rwanda, specializing in delivering solar-powered pay-as-you-go solutions to electrify communities.

In the water group, Eau et Vie — a nonprofit organization from France — won the honors by offering individual taps of clean water to impoverished urban residents in slums.

The Gaza Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture Platform, or GUPAP, from Palestine won in the food category for its contributions to supporting Gaza's agricultural sector.

Apart from China, other recipients of the Global High School Awards are the Colegio De Alto Rendimiento De La Libertad from Peru, representing the Americas; Gwani Ibrahim Dan Hajja Academy from Nigeria, which represents sub-Saharan Africa; and International School Morocco for the Middle East North Africa category.

The Northfleet Technology College of the United Kingdom, representing Europe and Central Asia, and the KORT Education Complex from Pakistan, representing South Asia, were also recognized for their efforts.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize aims to perpetuate the legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founding father of the UAE, by honoring and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, nonprofit organizations, and secondary schools that offer sustainable solutions to address challenges in health, food, energy, water and climate.

For over 15 years, the prize has helped the lives of 384 million people worldwide through the innovative solutions presented by its 106 winners.