Front-row view of COP30 inspires UChicago students to pursue climate interests
Global climate change conference brought together policymakers, industry and civic leaders
Last week in Brazil, nine University of Chicago students got a front-row seat to global negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30.
The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth sponsored a cohort of six College students and three master’s students from the Harris School of Public Policy and Booth School of Business. The group was accompanied by Institute staff as part of the annual delegation to the event.
The students attended for three days of the conference, setting their own schedule from Nov. 12-14 in the host city of Belém, set at the mouth of the Amazon River delta. Each student attended a full day of panels featuring climate professionals from around the world. The dozens of concurrent talks provided international perspectives on climate finance, technology, agriculture, health care and more.
“This was ‘the COP of implementation’ and it was fascinating to see countries go from high-level strategy to actually getting things done on the ground,” said Eliza Beckerman-Lee, a joint master’s student at Booth and Harris. “Unsurprisingly, funding is the greatest implementation challenge, and I loved the conversations between public and private sector leaders about how to reduce the cost of capital to increase the availability and speed of climate financing.”
Students also had access to live U.N. meetings and negotiations. Attendees observed discussions on topics including international climate-finance platforms such as the Adaptation Fund and the Loss and Damage Fund, as well as other global climate dialogues.
“I loved the conversations between public and private sector leaders about how to reduce the cost of capital to increase the availability and speed of climate financing.”
—Eliza Beckerman-Lee, a joint master’s student at Booth and Harris
“Negotiations may be long, tedious and riddled with minutiae, but in watching the passion with which delegates spoke about the environmental values of their country, I take a renewed, vested interest in the legal frameworks that so importantly shape the future of emission reductions in Illinois, the United States, and the rest of the world,” said Davis Turner, a fourth-year student in the College.
Between sessions, students networked with peers from other universities and climate professionals from across the globe. The cohort shared meals with employees of energy company Rystad Energy and students from The Munich University of Applied Sciences.
(From left to right) College students Rudra Patel, Davis Turner, Samantha Alderden and Laura Bornhoevd in Belém, Brazil, for COP30. The city is known as a gateway to the Amazon rainforest.
(Photo courtesy of Rudra Patel)
They also dined with Christa Hasenkopf, director of the Clean Air Program at the Energy Policy Institute of UChicago (EPIC), and Asst. Prof. Amir Jina from Harris, both of whom were presenting at COP30. Institute Distinguished Fellow Andrew Light, former assistant secretary of Energy for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy, spoke with the students following a fireside chat event.
The students’ experiences at COP30 provided greater depth for what they’ve been learning in the classroom. Laura Bornhoevd, a second-year College student majoring in climate and sustainable growth, said the COP process “has been a central part of our discussions” in several of her courses.
UChicago students Eliza Beckerman-Lee, Will Vanman and Claire Xie at the COP30 international climate conference in Brazil.
(Photo courtesy of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth)
“The opportunity to attend COP30 has added an invaluable layer of nuance to my understanding of how this process works to create international climate action—or in some cases, a lack thereof,” Bornhoevd said. “Overall, going to COP allowed me to see the main topics of my major first-hand to better understand what happens during the actual negotiations at COP, as well as the work that is being done by NGOs, businesses and other stakeholders in the climate space.”
Read daily reflections and see photos from COP attendees through the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth at their Daily Diaries page. View bios and quotes from each student on the Institute’s COP30 delegation page.
Interested in joining the Institute’s next COP delegation? Subscribe to their weekly student newsletter for the latest updates.
