The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP29) took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11–24, 2024. Climate change represents one of the most significant global security threats confronting humanity, and Ohio State students were at the forefront of these climate negotiations. As part of an annual study abroad class led by Environmental Historians Nick Breyfogle and Bart Elmore, ten outstanding Ohio State undergraduates traveled to Baku to take part in the annual United Nations climate negotiations, COP29.

“The Politics of Climate: The United Nations Summit Education Abroad Program” seeks to connect Ohio State students to the ongoing global climate negotiations, allowing them to learn about and participate in the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings on climate change. The COP is a formal meeting held yearly under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In COP meetings, parties assess and evaluate the progress countries have made in addressing climate change and negotiate new agreements and practices on environmental issues. 

In this program, students study the history of international climate negotiations and examine the environmental agendas of countries around the world. They also learn about the science of climate change, explore the ways historically that societies have responded to evolving climate patterns, and research possible solutions to climate issues with particular focus on local problems in Central Ohio. At the COP meetings, students engage with politicians, diplomats, business leaders, and environmental activists. Ohio State students also share their own experiences with climate change and participate actively at COP meetings and youth working groups.

COP29 brought together leaders from governments, businesses, and civil society to address the deepening climate crisis. The conference's main outcome was the Baku Climate Unity Pact, which established a new global climate finance goal. At the conclusion of COP29, developed nations pledged to contribute at least $300 billion annually to the global fight against climate change. This amount fell far short of what negotiators hoped to achieve, and many participants left the conference disappointed. Still, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell highlighted that the new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity.

While in Baku for COP29, Ohio State students attended press conferences, met with fellow young leaders from the around the world interested in climate politics, and had deep discussions with the chief sustainability officer of Bayer, the German life sciences company, and Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program. Our students organized and moderated a remarkable meeting with US college students and representatives from the State Department that were part of our country’s climate negotiation team. They also attended a closed-door meeting with John Podesta, the chief climate envoy for the United States, and participated in panels at the pavilion for America Is All In, one of the leading non-government affiliated alliances fighting for better climate governance. Somehow, after all this, they made time to explore Baku, including traveling to UNESCO petroglyphs in the surrounding hill country and trekking on dirt roads to the impressive mud volcanoes that give Azerbaijan its legendary name, “The Land of Fire.”

Once back in Columbus, the students kept the momentum going, bringing back their new expertise, knowledge, and connections to help address climate and environmental issues locally, nationally, and globally. Bart Elmore and undergraduates Tom Dunn and Cherod Bowens were recent guests on WOSU All Sides with Amy Juravich, where they discussed their experience at COP29. Christine Andreeva, Student Communications Associate and COP29 attendee, shared her impressions of COP29, along with undergraduate student attendees Carissa Garcia, Cherod Bowens, and Lexi Capka, with the Ohio State Sustainability Institute.  On the ConnecTED podcast, COP29 participants Carissa Garcia and Isabel Rosario-Montalvo talked about creating change at COP29.

These experiences were supported by the Mershon Center, the Ohio State College of Arts and Humanities, the Ohio State College of Arts and Sciences, the Ohio State History Department, the Ohio State Sustainability Institute, and the Ohio State Center for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies.