They are joining world leaders, scientists, policymakers, industry representatives and delegates from around the globe who will be gathering in the Amazon city of Belém at the 30th United Nations (UN) Conference of the Parties, or COP30. What is the goal of COP? To negotiate national responses to climate change on a global level. COP30, the 30th conference, aims to accelerate the implementation with a focus on finance pledges and equitable engagement. This is the first time the COP has been held in Brazil.
In all, 5 representatives from Middlebury will travel to Belém, including 4 current graduate students and one recent alumnus. Each has prepared with intention. As representatives of the Middlebury observer delegation at COP30, they will lead panel discussions around climate finance and the role of higher education in climate policy. They will also be volunteering for the Ocean Pavilion and the youth and indigenous delegations. Travel to COP30 for the delegation is generously supported by Middlebury’s Ron and Jessica Liebowitz Fund for Innovation, Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, and the Center for Blue Economy.
Importantly, the delegation will also be updating the broader with live sessions, , and answering questions from the network. This professional network of students, staff, faculty and alumni across Middlebury College, Schools, and the Institute has been an incredible opportunity to connect a community with shared interests. The network was initiated in 2025 with generous support from Middlebury’s Ron and Jessica Liebowitz Fund for Innovation.
Description: COP30 is underway. It is the 30th year. Is it working? In this session, we will explore questions around what climate leadership looks like on the international stage. We will hear from current Middlebury Institute students who are at COP30 on what they are experiencing. Are you interested in ways you can become more engaged? Join this conversation and learn about the recent launch of the Middlebury Global Climate Policy Network.
Facilitated by: Angela Izi
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This session is part of the Fall Forum:
What Works Now? Middlebury Fall Climate Forum
November 14-16, 2025 (event schedule)
Breakout: Leadership Past, Present, and Future: International Agreements and Policy
The COP Network brings together Middlebury College and MIIS students, alumni, faculty, and staff who share a common interest in international climate policy. The primary goal of this network is to facilitate knowledge exchange and foster deeper understanding of global climate negotiations through direct engagement with the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP).
The network aims to demystify the COP process by creating an experiential learning opportunity for participants, and sharing their knowledge with the broader network community. A key component of this initiative is to support the participation of at least two students and one alum to attend COP30 through the Middlebury observer delegation status. These participants will gain firsthand insight into the complexities and dynamics of international climate negotiations. The network also organizes virtual events before and after COP to share knowledge, insights, and ideas.
To join the group, any Middlebury student„ alumni, faculty, or staff from the College, Institute or any of the Schools can sign up though this . The group is coordinated through periodic emails to share events and a group to share ideas, opportunities, and make professional connections.
Climate change, adaptation, resilience, mitigation—from the oceans to the Arctic—we are facing a whole new world in the 21st century. Center for the Blue Economy staff, Research Fellows, and Advisory Council members playing an important part of that critical conversation.
| by David Helvarg & Daniel Hayden in the Hill
Ten billion dollars in funding to restore beach dunes and dune grass, salt marshes and estuaries, oyster and coral reefs may seem unrelated to the rebuilding of America’s crumbling roads, bridges and sewer plants. But restoring and expanding natural coastal barriers — or living infrastructure — is actually a practical cost-effective way of reducing the growing impacts of sea-level rise, intensified storms and associated with the rapidly worsening climate emergency. And those impacts will be devastating to the U.S. economy if we don’t act now. While vulnerable coastal counties comprise less than 10 percent of the nation’s landmass, they generate of its GDP.
| by David Helvarg in the Progressive
Human-induced climate change has gotten so bad that our only hope isn’t to reverse it, but to simply save what we can.
| by Jason Warburg
Bryce Bray MAIEP ’18 has been awarded a Boren, a Fulbright, and most recently an Institute of Current World Affairs fellowship, all of which are helping him continue to develop expertise and expand his professional network in his chosen field of climate policy.
| by Ramin Skibba and Hakai Magazine
Researchers in Southern California are using lidar to improve scientists’ understanding of the erosional forces that cause bluffs to collapse. Dr. Charles Colgan, Director of Research at the Center for the Blue Economy, weighs in with research findings from a 2018 CBE study.
| by Jason Scorse & David Helvarg in the Nation
In 2008 the United Nations designated June 8 as World Oceans Day, “a day for humanity to celebrate the ocean.” Since then, it’s had about as much to do with the ecological economic and human rights disasters affecting our seas as Arbor Day has to do with global deforestation. Because it’s so vast and poorly regulated, the ocean sector of the global economy has been largely out of sight and out of mind.
The 5th International Symposium was hosted by National University of Ireland, Galway, and Dr. Charles Colgan, the Director of Research at the Center for the Blue Economy (and the individual who instituted the methodology to measure the blue economy now used worldwide) gave a notable presentation.
