Professor Mohamed Loutfi, President and Vice-Chancellor of the British University in Egypt (BUE), signed a Memorandum of understanding with Cairo Runners to launch the largest climate run in the history of Egypt, entitled “Run for the climate”. The event is in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and under the patronage of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and is set to take place at the British University in Egypt campus in El-Shorouk.

This came in the presence of Alessandro Fracassetti, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr. Amr El-Haddad, Assistant of the  Minister of Youth and Sports, Abdullah Hussein, co-founder of the Cairo Runners Group, the University Provost Professor Guy Daly and a number of University Deans and faculty members.

The marathon is scheduled to inaugurate the Climate Week at the University, which comes as part of the University’s role in the United Nations Climate Summit COP27 that will be held in Egypt in November 2022, and as a commitment to the University’s social responsibility as a partner in achieving the sustainable development goals in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030.

More than eight thousand students from Egyptian universities and youth from all over Egypt are planned to participate in  the event, in a non-precedent run in terms of number of participants, and the first in terms of diversity of artistic and cultural activities accompanying the event. The run is accompanied with an open-air art exhibition by  students and local artists addressing the climate challenge, in addition to a green bazaar for start-up companies, initiatives, and student projects that contribute to raising awareness about the climate cause, and  achieving  positive  community engagement in climate change solutions; in addition to empowering more youth in different areas of the sustainable development goals.

Professor  Mohamed Loutfi, President and Vice- Chancellor of the British University in Egypt, stated that “signing this protocol would enable the university to implement more activities that support the topic of climate change, coinciding with holding COP 27 in Egypt and Africa for the first time, and the university’s belief in implementing the sustainable development goals(SDGs), as the University partnered with many local and international institutions and organizations to go in line with the efforts done to combat climate change and raise awareness about its challenges.”

Professor Loutfi added, "The university has launched unique student activities to help our students become more aware of national and international environmental, economic and development burdens and makes them more prepared to become global citizens capable of proposing solutions and engaging with their communities to improve the quality of life in different capacities, as young people play an important role in the development process; as they are the future generations and this is an important part of the university's strategy, as the British University in Egypt the first university in the country to commit itself to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and incorporate them in our teaching, learning, research, students activities, and community service

From his side, UNDP Resident Representative Alessandro Fracassetti added: “It is my great pleasure to co-announce the inauguration of the “Run for The Climate” with our partner, the British University in Egypt and to witness the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the University and Cairo Runners. UNDP strongly believes that young people have a unique stake in this dialogue on climate change and we hope we will continue to make their voices heard in the most inspiring ways.”

Dr. Amr El-Haddad, Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports, began his speech by conveying the greeting of the Minister of Youth and Sports to the attendees, for organizing this great sporting event, stating that the British University in Egypt’s organization of this marathon clearly reflects the cooperation between bodies and ministries, in order to ensure the necessary synergy for the success of the climate summit "COP 27” hosted in Egypt. He added the Ministry worked to facilitate the "COY" youth conference, which will be held before the climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. The Ministry is also prepared to organize a day for youth and future generations, and to organize sessions and workshops led by youth with the participation of decision-makers.

In turn, Dr. Amr Seda, the university’s strategic transformation leader and associate professor at the Faculty of Economics, Political Science and Business Administration at the British University, said that many university students are unaware of the risks of climate change, which justifies organizing this event. Added that by empowering students and making them more  aware of the  risks associated with climate change, will help them be part of the solution for a better future for the generations to come.

Abdullah Hussein, Founding Partner of the Cairo Runners Group, said that the goal of this cooperation is to collectively share visions and goals to maximize the benefit of the capabilities of both parties to provide sports services with societal and development dimensions that contribute to achieving Egypt’s Vision 2030, and the marathon highlights the role of sports in development. Increasing the number of conscious youth to participate with us in addressing climate change.

The event will take place on October 14th, 2022. Registration for the run and all parallel events is open free of charge for youth, families, professional athletes, and advocates of the climate cause.