COP28: French Multinational Announces Winners Of UAE Youth Green Challenge

French multinational company Schneider Electric announced the winners of the UAE Youth Green Challenge on Sunday.

They were Hariharan Ramesh and Farkh Leka Hashimy of the Rochester Institute of Technology-Dubai (RIT-Dubai), and they received a prize of 20,000 euros.

The youth challenge was part of a program between Schneider Electric and the Arab Youth Center at the COP28 summit, which opened on Nov. 30 and will run until Dec. 12 in Dubai.

Ramesh and Hashimy created an interactive organic waste management app called Eco Sync. Selected among six other shortlisted projects, their winning project excelled in criteria such as innovation and creativity, environmental impact, feasibility and scalability, potential for implementation, communication and presentation and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Sadeq Jarrar, executive director of the Arab Youth Center, said its partnership with Schneider Electric in this youth challenge allows them to strengthen their efforts to reduce carbon emissions associated with the industrial sector in the region.

"We are confident that our cooperation will add to this challenge with meaningful initiatives in the future. It makes young people ambassadors for the values of sustainability, and we confirm the continuation of our efforts as promising leaders in the field of sustainability locally and globally," he added, as reported by WAM.

Asli Cakir, Schneider Electric's Gulf vice president of human resources, noted that the success of this initiative shows the potential of the youth in driving sustainability and climate action, adding that it "helps translate their commitment into actionable results."

"We were impressed with the quality, interoperability and design of the innovative AI-integrated app built by the winners; the solution reinforces the importance of effective waste management strategies in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 4%," he continued.

Schneider Electric is also part of another initiative called Arab Technology Fellowship for Arab Youth, which aims to help Arab youth in reducing the skill gap in various areas, including Information and Communications Technology (ICT), digital transformation, innovation and interactive emerging technologies.

Last month, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) participated in the 17th annual Tawdheef exhibition to push the country's Emiratization agenda to provide UAE nationals with more job opportunities in the financial sector. The exhibition served as a platform to showcase CBUAE's upbeat work culture and attractive work environment, alongside opportunities to develop skills and careers for UAE nationals.