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The COP26 agreement keeps the 1.5C goal alive and for the first time mentions the role of fossil fuels. The climate transition is about the future of humankind, but medical researchers say it can also have immediate health benefits here and now.

On 31 October, the 13-day UN climate summit COP26 began with the aim of accelerating measures to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Climate Convention. Shervin Shahnavaz, member of the climate network at KI, has in recent weeks focused intensely on climate issues as a result of the meeting.

As many as six photovoltaic power installations have now been put into operation on campus Solna. The installations are located on the roofs of, among others, Widerströmska huset, A Working Lab Innomedicum and the Berzelius Laboratory. Together, the solar cells cover an area of approximately 2,100 square metres and provide the campus area with renewable energy.

On Thursday 16 September the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health (CESH) was inaugurated. It's a digital competence center that has been established together with Makerere University in Uganda. The purpose of the center is to promote sustainable health and contribute to Agenda 2030 with the help of a long-term partnership.

Karolinska Institutet (KI) has been awarded a grant from Sida for a two and a half year capacity development project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Somalia. The project aims to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

Karolinska Institutet has been granted renewed funding from the Swedish Institute (SI) to implement two capacity building training programmes for professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa. The training programmes will be offered online during 2021 - 2022.

Last autumn, KI announced an new internal funding for work on sustainable development initiatives. After fierce competition, five applications have now been selected to share one million SEK.

Karolinska Institutet has signed an agreement with Wellcome Leap that enabled KI to join the Leap Health Breakthrough Network. This global network comprises many leading academic and research institutions across six continents, that are committed to solving the world’s most serious global health challenges.

KI's President has decided on a climate strategy as part of KI's contribution to a more sustainable world. The strategy is to be followed up by an action plan with more concrete measures with everything from the purchasing of goods and services to reducing CO2 emissions from travel.

KI and Makerere University have signed an agreement to establish the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health (CESH), a centre to promote partnerships and develop capacity, resources and tools for researchers and policy makers globally. The agreement is the next step in the deepening of the collaboration between the institutions.

The virtual SPARKS conference held on 2-3 December will gather a network of global leaders in public policy and research to facilitate the exchange of knowledge on social protection and health. Knut Lönnroth is the founder of the SPARKS Network and Professor of Social Medicine.

An extensive workshop has been held to further the vision of creating a Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health. Karolinska Institutet is driving the development together with Makerere University in Uganda, with focus on non-communicable diseases and other high burden diseases.

At Karolinska Institutet several staff and students are deeply committed to reduce the environmental footprint. One of the many departments at KI taking an active approach to climate issues is the Department of Clinical Neuroscience.

A research and innovation conference is currently in progress in Stellenbosch, South Africa, bringing together representatives of Swedish and South Africa universities. The main topic of the week-long conference, which opened on 6 May under the STINT-financed South Africa–Sweden University Forum (SASUF) project, is Agenda 2030.

The integration of the UN’s Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals into higher education and the importance of engaging students in the process were in focus at the recent conference, “Rethinking Higher Education: Inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals”.