The Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC) undergraduate delegation partnered with Duke, Beyond Climate Collaborative, and Earth Refuge to organize a climate justice event at COP30 titled “Advancing Climate Justice: Legal, Artistic, and Community-Responses to Climate Displacement.” The speakers engaged in storytelling and genuine exchange, with pauses for collective reflection and open dialogue where everyone was invited to contribute insights from their experiences. They worked to center affected communities as equal partners and consider solutions that are both evidence-based and community-centered.
The YSEC coalition consisted of Camila Young, Sahana Kaur, Maya Thompson, Jenny Liu, and Phoenix Boggs. In addition to activities they organized as a group, the coalition members participated in panels and discussions during their time in Brazil.
“In the lead-up to COP, as the YSEC delegation’s COP30 Manifesto Team Lead, I coordinated a coalition of students from more than 50 universities worldwide to produce a manifesto with recommendations to improve the governance, accessibility, and sustainability of COPs, while expanding higher education institutions’ climate offerings,” said Sahana Kaur.
“Based on these recommendations, I organized and moderated two panels on synergizing higher education with global climate governance at the USA Climate Pavilion and the IPCC/WMO Science for Climate Action Pavilion during Week 2 of COP. We had a diverse array of speakers, ranging from students to faculty to senior leadership, who shared additional insights and ideas for the nexus between global climate policy and academia. I also spoke at two climate mobility events that our delegation co-organized, as well as the China Pavilion’s High-Level Youth Leadership Panel and the Higher Ed Pavilion’s panel on Youth-Led Climate Solutions at Universities. Beyond these activities, I tracked discussions on conflicts of interest, my home country of Malaysia’s engagements, and the Mutirão Decision.”
