News
University College Cork representatives attend COP29 talks
Students and researchers from University College Cork (UCC) attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties (COP) when the 29th edition of the summit took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11-22 November 2024. COP 29 brought together nations to assess global efforts to limit the levels climate change against targets set by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, and other international accords.
The UCC President’s COP29 delegation of five representatives led by Dr Fionn Rogan attended the summit over eleven days. They were:
- Dr Fionn Rogan, Senior Research Fellow in Energy Systems Modelling at ERI/University College Cork and MaREI Research Centre for Energy, Climate, and Marine.
- Dr Barry Hayes, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Power Systems Engineering at UCC and a Funded Investigator in the MaREI Research Centre for Energy, Climate, and Marine.
- Sumaya Mohammed, a Climate and Human Rights Activist, Quercus Active Citizenship Scholar, and First Year Law student.
- Erin O’Riordan, a recent UCC Law graduate and Research Assistant at the Traveller Equality and Justice Project.
- Cian Walsh, UCC Students’ Union Environmental and Sustainability Representative, Quercus Active Citizenship Scholar, and First Year BSc Government and Political Science student.
The delegation worked closely with UCC Media and Communications to optimise engagement with Irish media and the visibility of the UCC delegation at the
conference was prominent in Irish media with daily diaries for the Irish Examiner, RTE TV , and Claire Byrne radio.
Along with attendance at COP29, the UCC Green Campus Committee hosted a COP Buster event on November 11th to “break down what COP is, what it has achieved, and failed to do” along with a short role-playing version of the negotiations.
It is envisaged that UCC, UMass Lowell and University of Plymouth will hold a post COP workshop where COP29 delegations from each university give a short overview of attendance at COP29 and thoughts on what was achieved (or not).