COP27: Delegates from Columbia Climate School share their plans and hopes
This November, the COP27 climate summit will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The conference will bring together a diverse group of people—world leaders, citizens, academics, activists, and representatives from businesses, local governments, nonprofits, and more—to discuss and implement solutions to climate change.
A number of representatives from the Columbia Climate Institute will be at COP27 to hold talks, moderate panel discussions, and forge connections that could lead to innovative collaborations. We spoke with several attendees about their hopes and expectations for the conference.
Lisa Dyer is a lecturer at the Columbia Climate School.
Lisa Dyer
What will you be doing at COP27?
I will listen and learn as much as possible. While I do have many speaking engagements and panels to present, I always find the greatest value in the COP by listening to what others have to say. My academic interests focus on climate adaptation in rural areas, especially sub-Saharan Africa, so I try to attend as many talks as possible from Africans sharing their experiences and challenges.
What do you personally hope to achieve there?
“Network” is a buzzword that can be overused, but in this case, I’m sincere! Meeting people from all over the world is what makes COP so exciting and I wish I could make new connections.mine Recent work in Rwanda Means I am particularly keen to connect with the Rwandan delegation. I also have many friends and colleagues working on climate change adaptation in UN affiliates, and we seem to only meet in person at the annual COP. After several years of pandemic hiatus, it should be exhilarating to be at this event with so many others.
What larger actions or takeaways would you like to see from the summit?
The negotiations themselves will attract a lot of media attention, with much of them focusing on mitigation; that is, pushing countries to reduce emissions will be a central thread running through the plan. But my interest is more on the adaptation side. The loss and damage conversation will be very interesting and I’d love to see how these issues are discussed. I would like to see the world break the gridlock on reparations and focus on specific ways the Global North can support the Global South as they work to integrate sustainable development and climate change adaptation into their economic growth strategies.
Robbie Parkformer postdoctoral researcher at Columbia Climate Institute and assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University.
Robbie Park
What will you be doing at COP27?
During the second week of COP27, I will be an official observer representing Columbia University. I am very excited!
What do you personally hope to achieve there?
I hope to advocate professionally and personally about the impact of climate change on physical and mental health, especially its importance in post-disaster settings, meet like-minded colleagues and friends, and learn more about how the process of climate change is being shaped globally Policy functions for climate change mitigation and adaptation. I also want to connect with colleagues from around the world to find ways and funding to collaborate on research related to climate change and public health.
What larger actions or takeaways would you like to see from the summit?
In particular, I would like to see greater and more equitable funding commitments in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to mitigate and adapt to the public health consequences of climate change, especially in the currently underserved areas of mental health and noncommunicable diseases. Most National Data Centers.
Belinda Archibon Assistant Professor of Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University.
Belinda Archibon
What will you be doing at COP27?
As part of the Columbia University delegation, I will participate as an observer.
What do you personally hope to achieve there?
My research is on the economics of epidemics, especially how climate-induced epidemics affect gender inequality and the well-being of vulnerable groups such as children in countries, especially in Africa. I also examine the impact of air pollution from natural gas flaring on human capital development, with a focus on the impact of pollution on children and women, who are often among the most vulnerable and marginalized in the world. I hope to contribute to the discussion around policy through my and other scholars’ research that focuses on the goals of distributive justice and equity moving forward in developing effective climate change policies.
What larger actions or takeaways would you like to see from the summit?
There has been a marked increase in climate finance from rich countries (especially the US and Europe) to poorer countries (especially Africa), the region in the world that contributes the least to historical and current emissions and will bear the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change globally warming. Along these lines, I would also like to see serious discussions on climate reparations and additional financing focused on correcting past climate injustices to marginalized communities and nations around the world.
Sonia Dellman is a biological oceanographer at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of the Columbia Climate Institute and the Columbia Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Sonia Dellman
What will you be doing at COP27?
I plan to participate in one or more panel discussions and engage with stakeholders in support of sharing the science we need to consider in the context of climate change.This is the first year to set up an aquarium in the Blue Zone [where the UN negotiations take place] with other stakeholder groups. As an oceanographer, this represents an exciting new opportunity to highlight the key interactions that exist between the ocean and climate, where knowledge gaps lie, and how we can work towards a sustainable future. With the generous support of the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, I have been researching the resilience of marine ecosystems, and I wish to highlight this work, and while knowledge gaps remain, the findings are important to support policy.
What do you personally hope to achieve there?
In every pinhead-sized drop of seawater, there is an intricate network of microbes that convert vast amounts of carbon dioxide into other forms of carbon. The network’s activity controls marine ecosystems, the carbon cycle and global fisheries, but these processes are poorly constrained, making it difficult to predict their sensitivity to changing oceans. I am a co-PI of a National Science Foundation-funded project that has received ‘Accredited Action’ status from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030. The project, called the Microbial Planetary Chemical Currency Center, will better constrain how carbon circulates in the surface ocean. I wish to highlight how the center’s work, combined with my previous and ongoing work on ecosystem resilience, can help inform climate prediction, management, and mitigation efforts.
What larger actions or takeaways would you like to see from the summit?
One of the main takeaways I hope from the unprecedented existence of the Blue Zone Aquarium is a wider recognition of the ocean as a stakeholder in climate action and the key interplay between ocean chemistry, marine life and climate.
Palin Toledano is Director of Research and Policy at the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment.
Palin Toledano
What will you be doing at COP27?
I will represent the University and Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment. I hope to bring visibility to our agency’s progressive views and body of work through panel discussions, audience participation, and interactions with colleagues and partners.
What do you personally hope to achieve there?
In addition to the above, I want to discover the work and actions of others and identify who we can partner with to advance climate action. I hope to understand that the world is still missing out on good policy answers that our CCSI team can strive to make a useful contribution to the global conversation.
What larger actions or takeaways would you like to see from the summit?
Developing countries need incredible financial support to jump on the bandwagon, embrace the transition and leapfrog emissions while they can still do it. I hope that the rich world will come together to address their needs and forge a truly just transition partnership.
I hope that politics, geopolitics and the current energy crisis will not affect ambition and commitment. When emissions are divided by two in 2030, emissions will continue to rise. The world is running out of time, and the price of inaction is becoming unaffordable. The current energy crisis, interpreted by some as a return to the heyday of fossil fuels, actually confirms that only by accelerating the energy transition can we achieve energy security and stability. I hope the latter interpretation will prevail in the COP.
Alessandra Giannini is an adjunct senior research scientist at the International Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia Climate Institute.Photo: Francesco Fiondra
Alexandra Giannini
What will you be doing at COP27?
I am accompanying a group of students from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris. Each year, we select a small group of students, with various subject backgrounds, who travel to the COP to represent the school.
As I’m a newbie, like this year’s student, I plan to do some negotiation (such as work on affiliated science and technology advisory bodies and/or work around Article 6 – essentially science and education contributions/knowledge transfer to negotiation) middle) in the blue area to feel their slow pace. After a side event focusing on African climate change policy – adaptation and energy transition – I spend most of my time in the green zone.
What do you personally hope to achieve there?
In the run-up to the COP, I heard repeatedly that the Climate Change COP had become the only truly global venue—an apt description of the task at hand, since nothing fully matches the global scale of human impact on the globe. climate. In other words, COP is the only place where people from all over the world, from different regions and from all walks of life can communicate and understand. I want to meet old colleagues and especially new colleagues involved in educational work around climate change.
What larger actions or takeaways would you like to see from the summit?
Since the COP is taking place in Africa, I would like to see increased awareness of the relationship between inequality and climate change at all levels.
