ON SITE AT COP28: Princeton University Visiting Professor Ramon Cruz, left, and part of the University’s delegation of faculty, students, and staff at the annual climate conference bringing some 80,000 participants to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, over the past two weeks. (Photo courtesy of Brent Efron)

By Donald Gilpin

The 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was scheduled to wrap up on Tuesday, December 12, after two weeks. Negotiations continued into the late night hours, however, and COP28 was preparing to go into overtime on Wednesday, December 13 in order to produce a draft text of a final deal among nearly 200 countries present.

In attendance at the proceedings has been a delegation of Princeton University graduate students, researchers, and faculty.

With much pessimism about the prospects for significant progress in fighting climate change at the convention and little likelihood of a deal that includes the desired “phase-out of fossil fuels,” the Princeton contingent of 16 nonetheless found much of educational value in the “dizzying experience” and “wild whirlwind” of events, as Ned Downie, a second-year Ph.D. student in the science, technology, and environmental policy program at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), described it.

“Lots and lots of events, with lots of interesting people,” wrote Downie, who attended in-depth discussions on steel decarbonization and subnational climate cooperation, in an email. “It’s really quite dramatic, pretty insane. Everybody is

here. Between the pavilions, official side events, negotiations, and everything else, there’s so much to do and so much going on.”

Loic De Weerdt, a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, seemed to focus on heads of state and other celebrities in his first days at the conference. Two particular moments that stood out were his surprise at finding himself just six feet in front of John Kerry during a 15-minute speech on public-private solutions for the climate crisis, then, on his way to the exit afterwards, bumping into Bill Gates, who was in the midst of an interview on venture investments.

“It was amazing,” De Weerdt wrote in a Princeton University blog. “The whole experience felt surreal.”

Keely Swan, associate director of Princeton University’s Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), emphasized the value of the experience for the Princeton delegates. “Attending COP28 will provide our delegates with an invaluable opportunity to see global environmental governance in action and an unparalleled networking opportunity with practitioners in this field,” she said, as quoted in a SPIA press release. “Our group will be tracking a range of important issues this year, especially around facilitating energy transitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support for climate adaptation and resilience efforts in the global South, and climate finance.”

Ramon Cruz, visiting professor at SPIA and the former president of the Sierra Club, is attending his 14th COP since 2009, half of the annual meetings that have been taking place since 1995. “It’s always great when students are exposed to this,” he said in a December 12 phone call from Dubai. “It’s like a conference on steroids. There’s so much knowledge, so many leaders, so much happening. It’s super interesting.”

He continued, “It’s great for students to learn this and to make connections that could later lead to work, and even career choices, in the nation’s service.”

As far as the probable outcomes were concerned, Cruz said he was “discouraged but not surprised.” He added, “It’s part of a long process. There is some progress, but not nearly where we should be.”

Speaking as part of a December 4 “Princeton Live from COP28” webinar, Cruz stated, “It’s always a mixed bag. This is a long journey, and if you come in at any moment you might feel very frustrated in terms of the negotiations, but at the same time there has been some advancement.”

With last year’s COP in Egypt, this year’s in Dubai, and next year’s planned for Azerbaijan, Cruz emphasized how discouraging it is to see fossil fuel-producing countries hosting and holding the presidency of the conference. “These are countries that are not democratic with big links to oil and fossil fuels, with three presidents who are not aggressive at all in fighting climate change,” he said. 

“Nothing compares to Paris [COP21 in 2015],” he added. “That was a miracle.”

Other members of the Princeton delegation weighed in. Describing the setting as “massive and so impressive,” Wilson Ricks, a doctoral candidate in mechanical and aerospace engineering, observed, “My major impression is that it makes the world feel really small, just the fact that everyone is here. It does feel like you are much closer physically and philosophically to the rest of humanity.”

Christian Perkins, SPIA graduate student studying domestic policy, emphasized the value of impromptu conversations with professionals, academics, and fellow students. “During these discussions, one theme sticks out: more money is needed from every sector to address the gap in adaptation, mitigation, and energy transition financing,” he wrote in a C-PREE blog.

SPIA Ph.D. candidate Avery Barnett knew she wanted to be “at the intersection of Caribbean energy issues and youth involvement at the conference,” as she described in her blog post.  A highlight for her was a session on “Decarbonization and Resilience in the Caribbean,” which “called for regional cooperation, better data collection, and discussed the use of green hydrogen to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors.”

Barnett wrote, “The highlight of this day was being able to engage with high-level stakeholders across different sectors and organizations, reconnecting with old colleagues, and learning about Caribbean-focused resources that could play an instrumental role in my research.”