Charlotte Wargniez, laureate of the 2023 Entente Cordiale for the Climate scholarships

My path to sustainable development certainty wasn’t straightforward, despite growing up with a keen interest in environmentalism. I grew up traveling in national parks and host families around the world and I thought of pursuing medicine to help communities. It wasn’t until I entered the University of Toronto for my bachelor’s degree that I decided to switch to the Earth sciences and pursue integrative environmental development.

As an avid student of the sciences, I participated in many research projects from various disciplines, from ecology to glacial geology and environmental psychology. There was a lack of intersection between the scientific literature and the applied policies and developments outside of academia. That is when I started thinking about sustainable development on the university and city scale.

My experiences motivated me to push international boundaries to fight climate change and its associated social and environmental impacts.

After helping students and small businesses create environmental initiatives with the resources of developed institutions, I realised the need to take a more real-world approach to projects. As I remember from my child’s perspective of traveling, we must not forget the techniques and needs for sustainable development in parts of the world with social and financial limitations. This acknowledgment pushed me to apply to graduate studies in sustainable innovation and economics that target real-world complex scenarios. Oxford offers the academic backbone and the ideal network to be combined with other groups of experts to initiate movements and controversial conversations. I am fortunate to be part of the 3rd cohort of students entering the Masters of Sustainability, Enterprise, and the Environment (SEE), which builds on realistic, rather than idealistic, economies and policies.

The Entente Cordiale will help me to foster a network of ambitious and international fighters and strengthen relations between France, the UK, and the EU.