Earlier this month marked the end of the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference lasted for two weeks, and I had the opportunity to attend the second half as an observer. This blog is the third of three that I will write in reflection of this conference. When considering what else I could say about this experience, I decided to try and draw inspiration from past UConn student fellows. I spent the better part of an hour reading through articles from COPs past: Sharm El-Sheikh, Glasgow, Madrid, etc. Reading, I was struck by an incredible sense of familiarity. Many if not most reflections I read expressed the same sense of frustrated optimism, seemingly characteristic of these negotiations, that I felt shortly after landing back stateside. To me, it conjured the image of the Red Queen’s Race. Famous from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, it depicts a scene in which Alice is dragged by the Red Queen running as fast as she can, but when they stop, Alice realizes that they haven’t moved at all. When Alice asks why they hadn’t gone anywhere after running so fast for so long, the Red Queen replies “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”
As I wrote in my previous blog, we find ourselves in a dire situation. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2024 is on track to be the hottest year on record. The previous record-holder it will dethrone? 2023. According to the 2024 UNEP Emissions Gap Report, in order to stay under a 1.5° C increase in global temperatures, the world must cut GHG emissions by 42%. Last year we released 1.3% more emissions than the year prior. Unfortunately, despite my natural inclination towards optimism, I had felt overwhelmingly stuck during this conference. Like Alice and the Red Queen, it seemed we were running as fast as we could only to end up in the same place we’d already been. Coming out of the conference, my general fear was that the UN’s grand gesture of an incremental approach may not be enough to meet this moment.
Thus, as negotiations dragged and parties entrenched, I looked outside the UN for answers. A main element of any COP is the information and experience sharing of people from all across the globe working to combat climate change. From what I gathered, real progress is made not in the grand negotiation halls but instead with small steps taken by regular people. I gather this not just from endlessly impressive strangers that I listened to on panels, or that I met walking from negotiations or between pavilions, but from the extraordinary cohort of students and faculty that I traveled to Baku with. I’ve met individuals who have devoted their careers to advocating for a more sustainable campus and a greater respect for our shared natural world. I’ve met with individuals who have devoted their careers to upholding justice and stewarding our planet for future generations. I’ve met with the future generation of leaders that will help get us unstuck, and I’ve never been more hopeful.
Despite the initial tone of this blog, I actually find myself in reflection having immense hope for the future and for our climate, much more than I had prior. This trip was not transformative to me as many of my predecessors have claimed, but instead it felt renewing. Interacting with a cohort so capable of meeting this moment renewed my conviction that shared commitment by passionate actors really can bring about a radically better world. I come from this experience with the genuine belief that the future really is in our hands, and that a future generation of leaders may be able to finally turn the page on the stagnation of the past.
Colin Piteo is pursuing a master’s degree in Public Policy from the School of Public Policy.
