By ADDIE TRAMMELL
In November 2024, Azerbaijan hosted the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP), an annual meeting discussing Climate Change on a global scale. One of Beloit’s students, Aislynn Patrick‘26 attended the conference as an official UN observer with the Christian Climate Observers Program (or CCOP).
Aislynn is a student majoring in Environmental Justice and Philosophy. She says the experience at the conference was different than she expected, it was more of a place to network and get inspiration rather than a fun ‘Climate Disneyland’. She also expressed that while she had a good experience that gave her insights into global climate discussions, she is, “not any more ‘qualified’ to be a climate activist because I attended”. Many activists focus only on local climate change issues, and that’s often the best way to actually get stuff done.
So what actually went down at this conference? COPs cover a wide range of topics, but the focus of this most recent one was the budget. The way the international climate budget works is that developed countries like the United States and the European Union, along with global banks, contribute funds to developing countries in order to protect against climate disasters and aid in the energy transition away from coal. Developing countries pushed for a minimum of at least $500 billion in aid from other countries and $1.3 trillion overall. The starting offer by developed countries was $200 billion and after negotiations, they settled on $300 billion per year, starting 10 years from now in 2035. While $300 billion might seem like a hefty sum of cash, it must be put into perspective. U.S. fossil fuel subsidies equaled approximately $757 billion dollars in 2022, and these subsidies were a net loss for the government. Another money sink is the U.S. military, which cost taxpayers $824.3 billion in 2024 alone. With this in mind, $300 billion dollars begins to seem inadequate.
The topic of finances, along with other factors surrounding this COP, made for a disagreement-filled conference. The choice of the host country itself was controversial, with Azerbaijan having free speech concerns and accusations of ethnic cleansing. Argentinian president Javier Milei, a leader with close ties to President Trump, even sent his delegation home from the conference a week early. “[COPs] are very fragile in the sense that politics is basically everything,” described Aislynn.
The conference took place less than a week after the United States election, which definitely threw a wrench into negotiations. The United States representatives at the conference were sent by the Biden administration, which meant that any promises they made would not be guaranteed by the Trump administration. This effectively neutered the U.S. ambassadors. In the negotiation room that Aislynn sat in on, she says, “The U.S. was obviously trying not to engage that much”.
COP30 will be held in Brazil, a country with a vested interest in the climate as 60% of the Amazon Rainforest is contained in their borders. This COP will mark the 10 year anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, an agreement that has dominated climate policy and discussions since its creation. In order to look forward at the future of climate policy, the effectiveness of the policies in place so far must be explored. This brings up the question of how the past 10 years have gone, and what the next 10 years will look like. The world as a whole has not upheld the expectations of the Paris Agreement, and it shows. Each of the past 10 years has been hotter than the last, and in 2024 the temperature increase reached 1.55°C. On January 30, 2025, we hit a record high of 55°F in Beloit. The historic average high for this date is 29°F, 26 degrees lower than what occurred. This is just one data point, however, it’s part of a larger picture that includes volatile temperatures, natural disasters, and a host of other issues.
Changes need to be made in order for these COP summits to continue to be effective. Aislynn sees a need for “specific, strong language about phasing out fossil fuels,” a point that Saudi Arabia successfully lobbied against during the COP29 summit. She also sees a need to reform the process of COP, citing lobbyists as an issue. “1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to the conference,” she says, “far greater than the number of delegates from the 10 most climate vulnerable countries combined”. Despite these issues, Aislynn is still optimistic about the future of climate action, stating that we can still limit our emissions and reduce warming if we act now. But, as leading climate scientist Kathrine Hayhoe has said, “every bit of warming matters”.
Featured image: Vivian Kopka ’27
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