Duke Experts, Students Take Part in United Nations Climate Change Conference

From November 11 to 22, world leaders are gathering in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP—and Duke University experts and students are on the scene.

Some of the Duke students participating in the U.N. Climate Change Negotiations Practicum met with climate policy experts in Washington, D.C., in October.

This year’s event is the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29). The “parties” are the 197 countries that ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. COP serves as an annual opportunity for countries to negotiate agreements to advance climate action. In addition to these formal undertakings, COP29 includes hundreds of events organized by governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations and civil society.

Several Duke experts are attending COP29 to share insights, advance collaborative initiatives and network. They are accompanied by 17 students who are getting an up-close view of how international climate policy moves forward.

Student attendees—who hail from diverse degree programs across five Duke schools—are enrolled in Duke’s unique United Nations Climate Change Negotiations Practicum. Their pre-COP readings, assignments and interactive exercises have been enriched by meetings with international climate experts via Zoom and a visit to Washington, D.C. Now practicum students are in Baku to take part in COP29 events and support “clients,” including low- and middle-income nations and nongovernmental organizations. Students will share real-time insights throughout COP29 at their course blog.

Meanwhile, here’s what Duke experts will be up to:

► Jackson Ewing, director of energy and climate policy at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, seeks to help facilitate energy transitions internationally and in the United States. At COP29, he’ll share insights from his new analysis of China’s emissions trading scheme and its implications for developing countries in Asia. At an invitation-only business and policymaker meeting, Ewing will launch a Nicholas Institute report on domestic planning for electricity demand growth in an uncertain policy landscape. Ewing is faculty sponsor for the practicum course.

► Tyler Felgenhauer, research director of the Duke Center on Risk and a senior research scientist in the Pratt School of Engineering, studies options for responding to climate risk in an integrated way. One of his research interests is understanding the risks and benefits of solar radiation modification (SRM), also known as geoengineering, a set of possible approaches to cool the Earth and help address climate change by reflecting sunlight. At COP 29, he’ll be taking part in numerous relevant events, including a private roundtable discussing ethical and responsible guidelines for SRM and other climate intervention research, following a recent report from the American Geophysical Union for which he was a contributing author.

► Practicum teaching assistant Gabriela Nagle Alverio is pursuing a J.D. at Duke Law School and a Ph.D. in environmental policy at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Sanford School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on the impacts of climate change on human rights and human security—and policy solutions addressing these challenges. She will be speaking about climate change and mobility at two COP29 events.

► Clara Park, visiting assistant professor of political science and a member of Duke’s Critical Minerals and Energy Transition Working Group, is currently conducting research on the political economy of climate change, focusing on climate finance and clean energy transition. She’ll be taking part in numerous COP29 events related to these interests, including speaking with delegations from developing countries about climate finance and energy access. She teaches Duke’s “Political Economy of Climate Change” course and is the author of Making Financial Globalization: How Firms Shape International Regulatory Cooperation (Oxford 2024).

► Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at the Nicholas Institute, is currently working with the United Nations on a package of policy solutions designed to improve extreme heat governance and resilience worldwide. At COP29, she will serve as a panelist at numerous public events about how countries and communities can mitigate heat’s impacts on human health. She will also take part in private roundtables hosted by Bank of America and Climate Action Innovation.

“Duke thought leaders will be helping frame and advance significant conversations in Baku, while also cultivating partnerships that allow our university to have a meaningful impact on pressing climate issues,” said Brian Murray, director of the Nicholas Institute, which organizes the practicum course. “Meanwhile, Duke students are seizing an extraordinary opportunity to learn about climate policy decision-making and to apply their skills, knowledge and creativity in real time as they support their clients.”

Public Events Featuring Duke Experts

All dates and times are Azerbaijan Standard Time (9 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time).

November 12, 9:30–10:45 p.m. – Nagle Alverio will be a panelist at the virtual event “A Climate Dimension: Practical Steps for International Protection Claims” (register).

November 13, 12–1 p.m. – Ward will be a panelist at “Heat Waves and Early Warning Systems for Heat Health in a Climate Change,” organized by the World Health Organization and its Africa Office at the Senegal Pavilion.

November 14, 12–1 p.m. – Ward will be a panelist at “Demonstrating Action on Extreme Heat,” organized by Swiss Re at the Health Pavilion (livestream).

November 15, 10:30 a.m.  – "Al Gore and Climate TRACE Present New Data Revealing High-Impact Opportunities for Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions" will take place at COP29 Blue Zone, Zone D, Plenary Room 1: Nizami. (No Duke speakers at this event but a Duke-led research team is providing building-sector emissions estimates for Climate TRACE.) (livestream)

November 16, 9–9:45 a.m. – Ward will be a panelist at “Forecasting the Fever: Early Warning Systems for Heat Health Emergencies,” organized by the American Geophysical Union and U.S. State Department at the U.S. Center (livestream).

November 18, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. – Nagle Alverio will be a panelist at “Voices of Resilience: Navigating Climate Mobility in the Caribbean and Beyond,” at the Global Centre for Climate Mobility Pavilion.

November 18, 2–5 p.m. – Ewing will be a keynote speaker at “Energy Transition and Carbon Markets,” organized by the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC) at the GAUC Pavilion, Green Zone H32.

November 20, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. – Ward will be a panelist at “Beat the Heat: Connecting Global and Local to Scale-Up Action for Heatwave Resilience,” organized by the International Organization for Migration (part of the United Nations system) at the Climate Change and Human Mobility Pavilion.

November 21, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. – Nagle Alverio will be a panelist at “Decolonizing Research and Discussions on Climate Strategy,” at the Global Centre for Climate Mobility Pavilion.