Transregional sustainable development
Panel Discussion
Location: Room 3 :  Salle Touria Chaoui - 25/03/2026, 16:00 - 25/03/2026, 17:30 (CET) (1 hour 30 minutes)

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Session chair: Prof. Jussi Grießinger, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg (Austria) 

Individaul contributions 

Prof. Ali Ben Ahmed - University of Sfax (Tunisia)
Transregional cooperation for climate, environment, and energy: joint African-European pathways toward sustainable development

The climate crisis poses unprecedented environmental and societal challenges that demand transregional and interdisciplinary cooperation. Africa, despite contributing only 3–4% of global CO₂ emissions, is among the regions most affected by climate change, while Europe possesses advanced technological expertise and a commitment to climate neutrality by 2050. This asymmetry highlights the urgency of building equitable African-European partnerships that combine resources, innovation, and local knowledge. This contribution proposes the creation of a Transregional Africa-Europe Renewable Energy and Climate Innovation Platform to co-develop solar, wind, and green hydrogen projects; establish joint research centers on advanced materials and sustainable technologies; and promote co-supervised PhD programs to strengthen scientific capacity. Such collaboration would not only address Africa’s urgent energy gap—where 600 million people still lack electricity access—but also accelerate global decarbonization by deploying Africa’s untapped renewable potential. By aligning technological innovation with social inclusivity and capacity-building, African-European cooperation can transform the climate crisis into an opportunity for shared resilience, fairness, and sustainable development. 

Dr. Amira Ghorbel - University of Sfax (Tunisia)  online
Understanding what shapes the ecological footprint in OECD countries?

Our study aims to analyze the determinants of Ecological Footprint on environmental quality in OECD countries with a particular focus on assessing whether institutional quality of governance measured by an index, improves environmental quality to support sustainable development. Using the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) for 30 OECD countries over the 1990/2022 period, we show that renewable energy exerts a negative and significant influence on the ecological footprint across the entire distribution. Similarly technological innovation affect negatively and significantly the ecological footprint across all quantiles. Whera’s natural resource rents are positively associated with the ecological footprint. Urbanization and Human capital are both associated with increased environmental degradation. We show also a validity of the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) pattern observed among OECD nations. The use of renewable energy shows a clear contribution to reducing the ecological footprint, primarily by lessening fossil fuel reliance and slowing environmental degradation. Technological progress has crucial role in fostering environmental sustainability. OECD countries should adopt a dual strategy of resource management and green investment to mitigate the ecological impact of natural resource rents. 

Dr. Bui Hai Thiem - University of Stockholm (Sweden) 
Triangular partnerships among universities for promoting research and education on just energy transition: insights from Asia

Triangular partnerships involving Global North institutions providing funding and expertise, alongside South-South collaborations for peer learning offer a robust and practical model for universities to advance research and education on just energy transition. These partnerships emphasize equity, local ownership, and knowledge co-production, aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and frameworks like the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs). Universities can co-develop curricula and training to educate future leaders on JET with emphasis on high-quality, concessional financing and stakeholder engagement to avoid debt traps and social unrest. Asian countries’ initiatives like student & staff exchanges, joint degrees, and skill-building workshops which prioritize demand-driven education have been developed to address the issues arising from just energy transition. Triangular models like EU-funded programs link North universities with South consortia for localized content mirrors South-South networks supported by North funding and expertise.


Africa Charter for Transformative 
Research Collaboration