Reflections on COP29

25 November 2024

Global Durham

Six headshots of Durham University's COP29 delegates in a row.

This year, we sent six delegates to the Conference of Parties in Baku, Azerbaijan. Learn how their work helps to address the challenges of an ever-changing and complex world – and inspires the next generation of problem-solvers.

We have been directly involved in Conferences of Parties (COPs) since 2021 under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Even before then, our researchers were actively engaged in important research and projects on climate change.

Meet our COP29 delegates and learn about their areas of specialism or visit our COP29 webpages for more information on our steering committee.

During the Conference of Parties in 2024, our delegates shared their expertise with world leaders under key thematic areas.

Cryosphere

Chris Stokes (Department of Geography) - Earth’s ice at risk of irreversible loss
Chris Stokes spoke at the ICCI’s Cryosphere Pavilion event Ice sheet dynamics and future sea level rise at +1.5°. View the event recording on our COP YouTube playlist.
Chris Stokes spoke at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI) Recent and Future Loss of Glaciers in the Greater Caucasus event. View the event recording on our COP YouTube playlist.

YOUTH / YOUNGO

Sophia Waseem Khan spoke at the Youth Voices Tackling Ocean, Biodiversity and Energy Challenges for a Sustainable Future event. View the recording of the event on our COP YouTube playlist.
Our COP delegates joined children from a North East England primary school for a virtual COP event live from Baku Azerbaijan.

Climate Litigation

Our official UNFCCC Side Event was live streamed from COP29 and watched by staff and students in Durham.
Petra Minnerop (Durham Law School) authored several articles during COP:
- KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland: the European Court of Human Rights leads the way on climate action (Links to article on the bmj website)
- The possibility of climate restoration law (Links to article on Wiley Online Library website)
- Coping with COP29 - insights from COP29 - including the COP's mandate under UNFCCC, the new Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance, and an update on the carbon markets.
Hafiz Ghulam Mustafa Kamran, PhD Candidate at Durham Law School, offers a critical view of the COP Presidencies Troika in his article The contradictory narratives and regressive negotiations at COP29.

Climate Finance

Professor Laura Marsiliani (Department of Economics) authored an article on COP29 and the potential of revenues from carbon markets and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for a Just Transition to Net Zero

Image from left to right: Professor Laura Marsiliani, Professor Petra Minnerop, Ghulam Mustafa Kamran, Dr Habib Rahman, Sophia Waseem Khan, Professor Chris Stokes.