Student Commentaries
Explore LinkedIn articles by practicum students.
COP30 | November 10-21, 2025 | Belém, Brazil
We Care Most About What Feels Close to Us: My First COP, a COP of Connection and Inspiration
Lige Nie, M.B.A./M.F.'27 | LinkedIn
Sometimes the most memorable experiences at the UN Conference of Parties (COP) happen outside of the negotiation rooms. Lige Nie recalls how powerful personal storytelling, and women's leading voices at the cross-section of nature and climate left her with a new sense of urgency that the end of her first COP.
A Child at COP30 and the Hope We Carry
Eilish Zembilci, Duke Ph.D. student | LinkedIn
The high-stakes negotiations at the UN Conference of Parties can be tense and painstakingly slow, but the process has endured for 30 years and delegates continue to show up. Eilish Zebilci reflects on how a fleeting moment in a hallway at COP30 encourages her to be hopeful for the future of global climate policy negotiations.
COP30: Centering Human Stories (and Defining Buzz Words)
Griffin Storm, B.A.'26 | LinkedIn
Interested in global climate policy negotiations but find the terminology daunting? Griffin Storm defines commonly used terms and breaks down three high-level takeaways from his experience at the first week of the 30th UN Conference of Parties for those curious to learn more.
We Smelled Smoke, We Yelled Fire, And Now We’re Racing to Make a Wood House Fireproof
Chloe Young M.E.M.'26 | LinkedIn
The world has smelled the smoke of climate change for decades. At COP30, the conversation shifted from preventing the fire to figuring out how to live with it through faster financing, cross-sector action, and new approaches to resilience wrote Chloe Young.
Beneath the Canopy of Formal Negotiations: Day 1 of Forests, Food, and Nature Between the Lines of COP30
Jacqueline Wittich, M.E.M./M.B.A.'26 | LinkedIn
Formal negotiations at COP30 focused on unresolved topics of past negotiations: contributions to emissions reductions, global adaptation, loss and damage financing, and carbon budgets. However, the deep connection between climate and biodiversity was vibrantly expressed in the pavilions, presentations, and design elements of the venue in Belém, wrote Jacqueline Wittich.
COP30 in Belém: Did We Finally Get Our World Cup, or Something More?
Uriel Pinho, Duke Ph.D. student | LinkedIn
As COP30 unfolds in Belém, the city celebrates long-awaited global recognition and investment. The the real question is whether hosting the summit will spark lasting climate leadership or simply repeat the pattern of short-lived attention and unresolved inequalities, wrote Uriel Pinho.
From Rhetoric to Reality: A New Narrative at COP30 in the Heart of the Amazon
Aashish Yadav, M.E.M.'27 | LinkedIn
Brazil is reframing climate negotiations around justice and “climate debt,” pushing wealthy nations to move beyond pledges toward real financial accountability. But will this new narrative translate into new actions? Aashish Yadav writes what he realistically expects to see.