The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held its 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 11-22, 2024. This year, the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) sent one student delegate, Emily Stuller, to attend the international conference.

SEAS has hosted an official delegation to COP since 2009. Avik Basu, a lecturer at SEAS, and the advisor for Climate Blue, a student organization that connects international climate policy with local climate action, has directed U-M’s delegation since 2015. 

Historically, U-M has been given eight badges to provide 16 students with the opportunity to attend COP as official observers. With COP29 being a smaller conference, badges were reallocated to ensure developing countries were equitably represented, leaving U-M with just one badge for this conference.

“The COP delegation is inclusive of students all over the university,” says Basu. This year, the one badge was divided among six delegates from U-M, including from SEAS, the School of Public Health, Michigan Engineering, the Ford School of Public Policy, and Michigan Law. 

Basu says that, when attending COP, “the day-to-day experience will depend on the student’s interests.” In the lead-up to the conference, “we ask each person on the delegation to pick a topic that they’re interested in, like finance or loss and damage, so that they can be the expert on that for the COP.” He adds, “That often involves going to some negotiation meetings, side events and potentially networking with people. At the same time, we also expect students to use the opportunity to explore, because COP has a lot to offer.”

Stuller, a second-year SEAS student specializing in Sustainable Systems, attended the first two days of the conference, where she was a badge holder, allowing her to attend formal negotiations and pavilions in the blue zone, which is restricted to badge holders. She spent the remainder of week one in the green zone, a more public access space for civil society.

During Stuller’s time at COP29, she focused on the blue economy, coastal adaptation and resilience, and Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. While exploring these topics, she also attended multiple plenary sessions and connected with students from Colorado State University, Duke University, Vanderbilt University and Ohio State University (OSU). 

“They [OSU] had two professors, both environmental historians, who invited us to join their student group. They were incredibly insightful and really helped us unpack and understand the day-to-day high-level UN [United Nations] process we were exploring during our time at COP29,” Stuller says.

Through Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations, Stuller says she was notified of opportunities to interact with the U.S. official delegation and climate envoy team, such as talking with their communications team to debrief before John Podesta, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, spoke about the recent U.S. election.

Stuller says her week in Baku was incredibly impactful. She said these conferences made high-level officials feel accessible to students like her and that she enjoyed being surrounded by everyone passionate about the fight against climate change, especially right after the U.S. election, which she says was a highly discussed topic among delegates from around the world.

“Being there, and being around people like-minded was inspiring and gave me hope for the upcoming term. It reinforced the fact that there are countless driven individuals working toward a better world. We are not alone—the international community is moving forward towards a more sustainable future,” says Stuller. 

She adds that one remark, in particular, by Podesta, stuck with her: “Facts are still facts. Science is still science. The fight is bigger than one election, one political cycle, in one country. This fight is bigger still.” 

Stuller says that some of the highlights from her week in Baku stemmed not only from the conference itself but from interactions with those on the packed buses to and from the venue. 

“I took it upon myself, even when I was really tired, to engage with whoever was sitting next to me on the provided shuttle buses, and just ask them where they are from, who they were here on behalf of, etc. And that’s where I had the opportunity to engage in some really interesting conversations,” says Stuller.

She adds, “I bet so many meaningful connections and thoughtful conversations happened on these buses, more than in official meetings sometimes. People are just more open in that close, informal setting, and you never know what personal stories or insights might be shared between strangers. It’s a space where people can just connect over a shared passion for the planet without the pressure of formal discussions or agenda.”

She discussed being on a crowded bus and having a conversation with an elder Iranian man who fled in 1979 to Switzerland where he carved out a career in investment and finance. He was there advising the Ugandan government on current negotiations, even though he joked that he was technically retired for quite some time. She briefly learned about his career journey and his thoughts on previous COPs and the UNFCCC process, and how he had been to 15 COPs. He remarked that he was hopeful with the next generation and their passion, and as he left he told Stuller, “See you at the next COP.” 

“Overall, I was incredibly grateful for this opportunity and I left feeling energized and inspired by the powerful, impactful initiatives being driven forward by passionate individuals working tirelessly every day for a greener world,” says Stuller. “Those people and their drive give me hope, even if this year’s negotiations overall were underwhelming and disappointing.” 

Alexandra Crilley, an accelerated master’s student at SEAS, was among five students across the university who attended the conference virtually. She got involved in COP29 virtually thanks to Climate Blue, where she is the campus outreach coordinator, and was offered a slot to attend virtually after learning that the number of badges had significantly decreased.

“It was fascinating to see what was happening each day and how climate negotiations were broken into highly specific topics for discussions and who the speakers were. I almost felt like I got an inside scoop on how COP is orchestrated,” Crilley says.

While there were technical difficulties in attending virtually, including broken links, a nine-hour time difference, and finding time to attend between classes, she says the experience was worth the trouble. 

“I'm incredibly grateful to still have access to the virtual COP29 platform even weeks after the conference, as it offers a wide variety of "on demand" recordings of the sessions that I can watch at my convenience to better understand how the negotiations occurred,” says Crilley.

For U-M students interested in attending COP in the coming years, Stuller recommends becoming involved with Climate Blue, attending upcoming Climate Blue events in the winter semester and engaging in whatever way you can with international climate policy ahead of applying. 

One specific piece of advice Stuller gave is to start thinking of ideas for how U-M can have a greater presence at future COPs and bring back those learnings to U-M.

"We have funding from the President Ono, so now that you have that reassurance, we can think more innovatively of how Michigan, whether partnering with other schools or interviews, can engage on this international level,” Stuller says. “The U-M COP delegation provides an immersive, experiential learning opportunity to the next generation of U-M sustainability leaders and allows them to bring their understanding of the latest international climate negotiations back to the university and local community,” says Basu.

For those interested in applying to attend the next COP, visit the Climate Blue website for application details. Typically, the application opens near the end of the winter semester. You can also keep up with Climate Blue on Instagram.