Climate Symposium Digs Deep into Biggest Takeaways From COP30

By Stephanie McPherson | March 2026

Climate policy experts and environmental activists from around the world came together at the Schiller Institute鈥檚 home at 245 Beacon for a 鈥渕ini-COP,鈥 a symposium organized by BC鈥檚 student delegates to the United Nations鈥 COP 30.

Attending the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change鈥檚 Conference of Parties (UNFCCC COP) is a rare privilege afforded to only a relative few non-governmental actors. But insights from this global gathering must be broadcast widely if there鈥檚 any hope for progress in climate change mitigation and adaptation, especially as administrations around the world pull back on their individual commitments.聽

鈥淚t's not just about traveling to a unique city to observe a really fascinating global political process,鈥 said聽Tara Pisani聽Gareau, Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Boston College. 鈥淚t's about what we bring back, how we translate what we learn, what inspires us, and the connections that we make into meaningful conversations as well as action within our own communities.鈥

This is why the Schiller Institute hosts an event each spring for Boston College COP delegates to share their lessons learned. This year鈥檚 symposium, held on March 13, mirrored the structure of the massive conference that delegates experienced at COP30 in Bel茅m, capital of Par谩, Brazil 鈥 including speakers, workshops and poster presentations.

鈥淥ur COP30 delegates came back from Bel茅m and synthesized what they have seen as the major themes on the ground and have tried to recreate it as a 鈥榤ini-COP鈥 today for you,鈥 said Kaley McCarty, Assistant Director of Programs at the Schiller Institute, in her welcome remarks to the nearly 100 attendees from the Boston area and beyond.

The symposium was built by this year鈥檚 student delegates around the COP30 points they found most compelling. They included:

  • US Climate Commitments and Action
  • Green Careers and Building Climate Skills
  • Climate Stories and Art
  • Indigenous Climate Action
  • Outcomes of COP30 and Looking Ahead to COP31
  • Local Implications

鈥淚t's awesome to be able to go to an event like COP and have the Schiller Institute鈥檚 support through that,鈥 said Tony Edgington, an Earth and Environmental Sciences PhD student delegate, during the morning鈥檚 poster presentation session. 鈥淏ut it is even cooler to bring it home and to share it with people, other students and community members at Boston College and also Boston at large.鈥

Experts in the Field

The event started with a and how they incorporate climate goals into their working lives. Kicking it off was , lecturer at Dartmouth鈥檚 Tuck School of Business and a leader within , a UNFCCC constituency representing Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations. Bach gave a distilled version of her 14-week Dartmouth course on the structure and history of COP.聽

鈥淭he COP is a conference. It's a meeting that happens once a year [for] refining鈥reaty obligations,鈥 Bach said, including the original UNFCCC in 1992, the Kyoto Protocol (which was active between 2005 and 2020), and the current Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement鈥檚 framework dictates that countries must submit climate action plans called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years. These plans are collectively meant to keep global temperature rise under 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial average.聽

鈥淭hat's how we get to good health for not only us in the present and my children, but my two-year-old grandchild,鈥 said Bach.聽

, Senior Project Manager for the National Climate Action team at the World Resources Institute (WRI), spoke about her group鈥檚 work helping countries achieve their NDCs. Ascher notes that none of the NDCs are quite ambitious enough to keep the Earth below the 1.5 degree threshold. To even make a dent in the global crisis, countries need to make good on their current promises and stretch further in setting subsequent goals.聽

鈥淭hat is where my team actually steps in, trying to at least keep us moving down the road, even if we don't get to the actual end result [right away],鈥 Ascher said.聽

For many countries involved, implementing warming prevention or climate change adaptation strategies is impossible without external funding. , Director of Climate Finance Access at WRI鈥檚 Finance Center, clarified the 鈥渂uckets of finance鈥 available to some countries. These buckets were deepened at COP30, with promised monetary contributions from governments increasing to $300 billion and from the private sector to $1.3 trillion. Larsen reminded participants that meeting these goals will require year-round work from many different sectors, not just two-weeks of COP negotiations.聽

鈥淕oing forward, it's going to be less and less relevant what happens with the COPs, probably, and more and more relevant what you do as a banker or insurance broker or whatever you do and how you integrate climate into that work,鈥 said Larsen.聽

, former US Senior Climate Negotiator and a representative from the climate action coalition , spoke about the vacuum left by the United States鈥 absence from both COP30 and the Paris Agreement and how climate action supporters must engage in noisy activism to prove the issue鈥檚 importance to future administrations.聽

鈥淔or example, the Inflation Reduction Act鈥hat would not have happened had there not been a lot of activism during the 2020 election,鈥 said Talley. 鈥淚t doesn't feel like there's this same kind of focused energy from youth and from the environmental community that would give the kind of space to do that in the future.鈥澛

Talley and Bach both reiterated Larsen鈥檚 message about the importance of climate activism outside of COP. RINGO and America Is All In both work to strengthen bonds between researchers, universities, religious institutions, and many others, creating a network of support that can be built upon.聽

鈥淧art of what we're doing is communicating the fact that America is still active,鈥 said Talley. 鈥淪ay 鈥榣ook, the federal government's out, but this large swath of states and localities and everybody else is still acting with a lot of examples.鈥欌

The of representatives from the NGO Cultural Survival highlighted what was broadly agreed upon as one of the COP30鈥檚 greatest successes 鈥 the of Indigenous voices, with 360 representatives of Indigenous groups involved in Blue Zone activities and another nearly 5,000 participating in other aspects.聽

鈥淒uring the COP, we achieved many things鈥he recognition of the Indigenous people's lands in climate solutions鈥he just transition work program and framework,鈥 said Edson Krenak Naknanuk, Cultural Survival's Brazil program manager. 鈥淗owever, this participation didn't really influence as much as we expected because we still face a lot of challenges.鈥

For example, increased battery usage over fossil-fuels 鈥 a frequently touted solution for reducing pollutants in the atmosphere 鈥 involves extensive mining for battery materials, often in traditionally Indigenous lands.聽

Djalma Ramalho Aran茫 Caboclo (Aran茫 Caboclo), Cultural Survival Brazil Program Associate, designed and performed an art installation referencing the devastation mining brings to his and other Indigenous communities.聽

In addition, he said, 鈥渁t every single panel, I held a photograph showing a massive pile of mining tailings [or waste] very close to people's homes. The mining company operating in the region promoted this course of 鈥榸ero waste mining鈥 as a part of supposedly just transition, but the images speak across languages.鈥

Camila Paz Romero (Quechua), a Keepers of the Earth Fund Program Associate from Cultural Survival, led Indigenous youth demanding access to the COP negotiating table.聽

鈥淢any generations of communities have lived in balance with Mother Earth. Yet today, our land and ecosystems are among the most affected by climate change and environmental degradation while the knowledge systems that have sustained our peoples for centuries continue to be overlooked in global climate decision making,鈥 Romero said. 鈥淚ndigenous youth call for climate action that goes beyond symbolic inclusion.鈥

Making Connections

Engaging the youth was a recurrent theme throughout the day, inherent in the structure of an event organized by Boston College students.

鈥淓vents like the COP30 symposium help to engage a critical stakeholder: the youth!,鈥 said Elleen Kim, a senior economics major and Director of Environmental Sustainability in the Undergraduate Government of Boston College. 鈥淭he youth hold the future and must hold older generations accountable for their actions. Lesser developed countries, NGOs, and the youth can call out underperforming parties to ramp up their climate efforts.鈥

Kim attended a pre-lunch workshop titled 鈥淧ast, Present, and Future of Climate Diplomacy鈥 led by Talley and 成人快手alum Catherine Goldberg, another former US negotiator.聽

鈥淚t was interesting to hear Trigg's takes on the absence of the U.S. from the global climate stage, particularly in terms of serving as a counterweight for other countries like China,鈥 Kim says. 鈥淚t will take time for the U.S. to rebuild its relationships and reputation in the global climate negotiation scene.鈥

A concurrent workshop titled 鈥淏oston Climate and Carbon Footprint Mapping鈥 was led by Edson Severnini, Schiller Core Faculty & Associate Professor, Economics Department.聽

鈥淭he mapping exercise was designed to make climate change tangible鈥攇rounded in where people live, commute, and spend time鈥攚hile also encouraging them to think critically about their own carbon footprints and local environmental exposures,鈥 Severnini says. 鈥淚t was encouraging to see participants move from identifying problems to proposing concrete, actionable solutions.鈥

鈥淭he mapping exercise was designed to make climate change tangible鈥攇rounded in where people live, commute, and spend time鈥攚hile also encouraging them to think critically about their own carbon footprints and local environmental exposures,鈥 Severnini says. 鈥淚t was encouraging to see participants move from identifying problems to proposing concrete, actionable solutions.鈥

鈥淲orkshops like this play a crucial role in bridging the gap between high-level climate discussions and local action,鈥 says Severnini. 鈥淭hey also create opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange, which is essential for tackling complex challenges like climate change.鈥

Hana Haile, a graduate student in the School of Social Work and a COP30 delegate, spent her time at COP attending events focused on people displaced due to climate-related disasters. She agrees that interdisciplinarity is important when thinking about the climate crisis.聽

鈥淭here's a lot of different persons who came to our delegation that weren't just environmental studies students,鈥 she said, standing by a poster she worked on about Green Careers and Building Climate Skills. 鈥淔or example, I'm a social work student and you wouldn't at first glance think that has anything to do with climate鈥reen skills happen in every sector鈥omeone who's studying environmental studies, they might be doing it more directly, but that doesn't mean that my work doesn't indirectly impact it as well.鈥

Edgington, the Earth and Environmental Sciences PhD student, also was motivated by this experience to make connections across disciplines, across institutions, and across the globe.聽聽

鈥淎s a scientist, I do my research, do my projects, I publish and put it out into the world, and not many people look at it. Even if it might be directly applicable to climate crisis or climate solutions, it kind of gets lost in the void,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 want to know how we can organize all of our research together as research institutions. How can we then press for more funding on climate solutions?鈥 He is interested in working closely with Bach and RINGO as his career progresses.聽

This symposium provided a strong start to get such networking conversations started, between the panelists from across the country and world and attendees from throughout 成人快手and other institutions in the Boston area.聽

鈥淓vents like this symposium are critical because they fight misinformation and empower people to get involved on the local level in climate action,鈥 says Kim. 鈥淥utrage of the masses will be necessary to hold polluters and policymakers accountable. It will take careful negotiating to make the political and economical case for investing in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and learning and discussing the topics at hand can help people make sense of complex problems from the perspective of different stakeholders.鈥

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