Reflections from Northwestern University's COP30 Delegation: Day 5
For a fifth year, a delegation of Northwestern University students and faculty supported by the Roberta Buffett Institute is among more than 50,000 researchers, policymakers, industry leaders, and activists at the world’s largest annual international treaty negotiations and climate summit, the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held this year in Belém, Brazil. Each day, a different Northwestern delegate is blogging about their experiences and reflections. Day 5 features Addison Feldman, a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in social policy, international studies, and history.
Today is day five of COP30, and the energy level as you enter the conference venue is just as high as it was on day one. After passing through security, attendees follow a walkway that cuts through a labyrinth of pavilions, each of which represents a country or organization. As you make your way along the path, you are surrounded by the sounds of presentations and cultural dance performances at the pavilions, the distant shouts of protestors, and the constant chatter of COP30’s tens of thousands of attendees. Further into the convention center, the atmosphere is more subdued, with row upon row of meeting and negotiation rooms. I attended many of these negotiations over the past few days to hear the perspectives of the European Union (EU) and its member states, but today I spent the day in the pavilion hall attending countries’ presentations.
Entrance to COP30
My research at COP is focused on analyzing the rhetoric of Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Italy—some of the most dominant EU players at COP—seeking to understand how they balance nationalism with collective action. Consistent messaging by the EU and those countries seeking its assistance stress the critical need for EU support in advancing the implementation of developing countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) (i.e., national climate action plans), which have been updated for COP30. EU representatives frame the EU as a leader in the green transition, arguing that the transition must be financed through public-private partnerships.
Curious to see how each of these countries is framing its climate action priorities, I started the day off at a presentation in the German pavilion. Its slogan is Global Multirão (Joint Effort): Realizing Just Transitions. As one would expect, this slogan provides a lens into Germany’s priorities, highlighting the link between social justice and climate action. In a presentation yesterday focused on executing a just transition, I learned that this slogan is a direct response to rising sentiment against climate action within Germany, so the German government is seeking to emphasize how Germans’ daily lives will be improved through fighting climate change.
German pavilion
After a quick coffee at the German pavilion and eating some of Brazil’s famous açaí for energy, I was off to the Nordic pavilions. Denmark and Sweden are using their pavilions to advertise their leadership in green technology, boasting their abilities to “match NDCs with innovative solutions.” While these countries may be relatively small, presenters from both countries emphasized their hope that investing in sustainable technology will inspire other countries and give them the tools to do the same—in addition to being a smart economic investment at home. Notably, a delegate from Denmark also emphasized the need to combat mis- and disinformation, highlighting similar domestic frictions as Germany.
Swedish and Nordic pavilions
I finished the day at Italy’s pavilion where I attended a presentation on water, the main focus of Italy’s programming, both inside COP and on a second floating pavilion, AquaPraça. Highlighting Italy’s partnership agricultural programs with African countries and innovative water management efforts in the Mediterranean, both presentations that I attended at the Italian pavilion emphasized the same national motivation for helping other countries adapt to climate change: water and food scarcity lead to conflict, and conflict leads to migration (to Italy).
AquaPraça: Italy’s pavilion on the Pará River in Belém, Brazil
Though not immediately apparent, my experiences in the EU’s pavilions have revealed domestic, intra-EU, and international tensions that significantly impact EU and global climate action. As week one of COP30 comes to a close, I am left pondering: can the EU leverage nationalist sentiments as support for the EU’s leadership in the green transition, or will nationalist movements and disinformation derail efforts to execute the commitments that are made here?
Addison Feldman is a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in social policy, international studies, and history. She is a 2024–26 recipient of the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service, through which she spent summer 2025 supporting several nonprofit organizations serving refugee communities in Europe and learning about the challenges they face. Previously, she studied climate change-related political movements and immigrant integration in Denmark, Germany, and Greece at DIS Copenhagen. Addison also served as a research assistant to Professor Elizabeth Shakman Hurd on her book Heaven Has a Wall.