CC Students Arrive in Azerbaijan for COP29

Eight students recently arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan, where they are attending the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29). CC’s delegation is led by Dr. Sarah Hautzinger, Professor of Anthropology, and Myra Jackson, Mindfulness Fellow for Creativity and Innovation.

“It’s a particularly challenging time to represent the United States of America in climate work, in view of the re-election of the previous president who temporarily removed us from the Paris Agreement,” Hautzinger says. “We are reviving the United States’ slogan from those years, — ‘WE ARE STILL IN’ — and believe it’s even more important to show up as members from American higher education committed to climate action.”

Each year members of CC’s delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference join a team of COP ethnographers and collaborate through the Youth Environmental Alliance in High Education (YEAH), which is a network of institutions in the U.S., Australia, Peru, and the United Kingdom focused on engaging higher education institutions in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This collaboration unfolds in a time of many defining choice-points that will define the tone and tenor of what plays out at COP29,” Jackson says. “There are deep echoes to prior moments in history, and yet, in many ways unparalleled if we include the voice of the Earth itself.”

“The opportunity to attend this climate conference represented a unique opportunity to explore my interests in global environmental policy,” says Ashley Entwistle ’26, a History and Political Science major with an emphasis in International Relations and an Environmental Studies minor. “I was also raised in Mumbai and Singapore; thus, I am fascinated by the global scope of COP29.”

Entwistle says that Azerbaijan is a unique host country. “It is situated on the political crossroads of Eastern Europe and Asia and is one of the world’s biggest exporters of fossil fuels,” she says. “I am excited to see a shift from the western-dominated geopolitical paradigm associated with COP and the UN and get a deeper understanding of how global environmental discussions evolve in a region deeply entwined with energy export dynamics.”

Abby Le ’25 is a Mathematical Economics major, and she joined CC’s delegation because she wants to better understand how global economic policies can impact climate resilience. 

“I’m excited to see how countries come together to discuss realistic and actionable steps toward climate solutions, especially regarding funding for lower-income countries and communities most affected by climate change,” she says. “While large-scale agreements can be challenging, I’m looking forward to observing negotiations firsthand—seeing how states approach these issues, how youth voices shape the dialogue, and how climate-related inequalities are addressed. I hope to gain a deeper understanding of how climate finance goals are set and adjusted, and to learn what collaborative actions emerge to support transitions to zero-carbon economies.”

“I’m looking forward to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness and take part in what is arguably one of the most important instances of international collaboration.”

Ella Reese-Clauson ’26

CC’s delegation is working hard with YEAH on an official side event, Youth Capacity-Building at COP29: Mobilizing Intergenerational Partnerships through Higher Education, which will take place following Youth Day, on Nov. 19. Hautzinger will serve as a moderator and Havalin Haskell ’26 and Jamie Harvie ’25 will be panelists.

YEAH runs the Climate Leaders Academy, which is a program of interdisciplinary climate-training and professional development. CC’s delegation will collaborate on a week-long exhibit through this program while at COP29.

“I’m looking forward to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness and take part in what is arguably one of the most important instances of international collaboration,” says Ella Reese-Clauson ’26, an International Political Economy major and Math minor. “I am excited to build upon my skills as an ethnographer and to meet some of the people at the forefront of climate advocacy work. I also hope to gain a better understanding of what takes place on the ground during climate negotiations after just having read about their outcomes all my life. I’m particularly interested in observing how different nations balance their economic interests with environmental and social justice imperatives, so having the chance to observe a COP conference at such an intense moment geopolitically will expose me to diverse viewpoints and the complex dynamics of international climate negotiations.”

Reese-Clauson emphasizes the importance of having schools like CC send delegations of ethnographers to COP.

“I think that it’s essential to have youth delegates involved in climate negotiations to maintain continuity as our generation starts to take over climate work and I think it’s essential to have ethnographers at conferences like this one to highlight the ways that social dynamics, cultural nuances, and power relations impact international negotiations,” she says.

Reese-Clauson and Entwistle are in charge of coordinating the group’s blog, and, as one of the writers, Reese-Clauson plans to have her posts primarily focus on the efficacy of protests and dissent at the conference, the role of faith-based organizations, and conversations on degrowth through Kate Raworth’s doughnut economic model.

“The liberal arts nature of Colorado College brings an interdisciplinary nature to the delegation that would be harder at a school of larger size and different learning style. I believe the CC education sets students up for success in this context.”

Megan O’Brien ’25

“I am most looking forward to being able to see something in person that I have read about in books,” says Megan O’Brien ’25, an Environmental Studies major and double minor in Studio Art and Classics. “I’ve been reading about the Paris Climate Agreement since high school and to see the context in which agreements like it are forged is so exciting. I am also looking forward to being in such an international space. I can’t wait to learn as much as I possibly can.”

O’Brien is grateful for the opportunity to attend COP29, which she says she’s been wanting to participate in for years.

“One of my favorite things about CC has been the opportunities to take blocks abroad and this course fit perfectly into my schedule,” O’Brien says. “Leading up to COP we have been doing a lot of discussing around the role of youth in climate negotiations. I believe youth have a special place in climate discussions because so much of what is being decided now will impact the rest of our lives. As a young person, I have vested interest in how these decisions affect my future and the future of my peers.”

O’Brien has been able to participate in classes abroad with field research at CC, like Ecology and the Environment in Costa Rica, but this is the first time she has been able to study international climate policy, and she believes she is very prepared for this course because of the liberal arts education she has received at CC.

“The Block Plan allows CC students the unique opportunity to fully focus on COP and the preparation required without missing other material from a different class,” she says. “Furthermore, the liberal arts nature of Colorado College brings an interdisciplinary nature to the delegation that would be harder at a school of larger size and different learning style. I believe the CC education sets students up for success in this context.”

Hautzinger and Jackson began meeting with the CC delegation after their selection in May. In June, CC’s delegation attended the pre-COP meeting, which took place in Bonn, Germany, virtually. The delegation also read and discussed Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. Hautzinger and Jackson began orientation and planning with the students during Blocks 1 and 2, as well as hosting a Visual Field Notebook session with Director of Creativity and Innovation Kris Stanec. Students were also required to take EN270 Anthropocene, a climate-facing pre-requisite course. Half of the students in this year’s delegation took the course in Block 3, while the remaining four students who already took the course worked on related independent studies or their senior thesis.

While at COP29, four students will present on one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. O’Brien will present on SDG 4: Education,Haskell on SDG 5: Gender, Reese-Clauson on SDG6: Water, and Entwistle on SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, which focuses on promoting peaceful societies and providing access to justice for all.

“I look forward to listening to individuals at COP29 from all over the world who will offer new perspectives and perhaps inspire new and different motivation within me to keep doing this work.”

Ella Childs Michaels ’25

Ella Childs Michaels ’25, an Anthropology major and Arabic, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies minor, is from a town located on a bridge-connected island off the coast of Downeast Maine. In high school, she advocated for climate action at the town level, as their coastal community is threatened by ocean warming that could damage their lobstering economy and sea level rise that could lead to parts of the town being underwater.

“I look forward to listening to individuals at COP29 from all over the world who will offer new perspectives and perhaps inspire new and different motivation within me to keep doing this work,” she says. “I also look forward to sitting in on meetings to gain insight on how global climate change negotiations happen, and what progress may come from it.”

In addition to the blogs students will write while at COP29, Haskell will work on dissemination efforts as part of her Journalism minor practicum, where she will provide daily, easily digestible insights into negotiations, policy and conference updates, and interviews with diverse stakeholders, participants, and parties at the conference through a newsletter and Instagram account with daily updates and photos.

Haskell’s goal for her newsletter, COP29 UNEarthed: a Student’s Frontline Perspective, is to increase engagement and awareness about the COP conference by bridging the gap between what she calls the “rooms where it happens” and the people these negotiations affect, which she says is every single one of us.

“I recognize that many people are more deserving or qualified to attend such an important conference, but circumstances prevent many from doing so,” says Haskell, an Environmental Studies major. “Recognizing this privilege, I am determined to make the most of this opportunity and feel responsible for amplifying specifically youth voices as well as opening up the door for my community and peers to be involved and engaged within the conference. Everyone needs to have COP in general on their radar, but especially COP29. The tipping points are here. The time is now if we are to secure a habitable planet in the future.”

CC’s delegation left for Azerbaijan on Nov. 6. CC has sent a delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference most years since 2015. Eleven students attended COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in 2022, and eight students attended COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, last year.

This year, for the first time, eight former delegates to previous COPs have virtual badges, and will be joining in from Colorado and points beyond. Members of the CC community are invited to attend a local COP-watch party hosted by the Anthropology Department on Fridays Nov. 15 and 22 at 8 a.m. M.T. The Nov. 15 watch party will be held virtually, and the Nov. 22 watch party will be held in the South Common Room. Additionally, alumni of previous CC delegations are hosting COP-watch parties Monday through Thursday, Nov. 18-21.