Blog: Who gets a seat at the table? The exclusive world of UN Climate Conferences
Attending a UN Climate Change Conference like COP29 in Azerbaijan is no small feat — and not just because of the logistical and financial hurdles. From exclusive badges to exorbitant costs, these global events often restrict access to the very people most affected by climate change, raising urgent questions about inclusivity and representation in the fight for our planet’s future.
In November 2024, I attended the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, as a representative of ETH Zurich and the Global Health Engineering group. While much has been written about external page the questionable choice of holding a climate change conference in an authoritarian petro-state, about external page the real intentions of the conference host, and about external page the inadequate outcomes of the conference, we also need to discuss more critically who gets to attend a COP in the first place. COPs are highly gated events that restrict access to a select few, while the voices of those most affected by climate change are at best indirectly represented.
Gate 1: The badge
Except for a small area (which in Baku was essentially a fossil lobby greenwashing fair), COPs are not open to the general public. To attend, you need a badge from either a government delegation or an officially accredited external page observer organization. After the last COP28 in Dubai saw a record-breaking 85,000 participants, many complained that the conference had become too large to navigate effectively. In an effort to address this criticism, the UN drastically reduced the number of badges for COP29 and gave proportionately more to Majority World countries to strengthen their voice – external page provoking discontent among rich countries. As a result, many organizations, especially from the Minority World, struggled to find badges for all the representatives they planned to send to COP29. For example, ETH Zurich, which usually received four badges in previous years, received only one badge this year. For individual researchers or activists, this created an atmosphere where badge access ultimately depended on personal networks and connections. At the same time, external page over 1,700 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists were granted access to COP29, outnumbering delegations of almost every country.
Gate 2: Money
Attending a COP is an expensive endeavor. In Baku, two aspects were particularly criticized by civil society organizations. First, hotel prices. When I looked for accommodation in Baku, a regular 3-star hotel that normally charges $40/night had raised its room rate to $600/night for the two weeks of COP29. Second, the cost of food. Since many delegates stayed at the conference site from early morning until late at night, they had no choice but to turn to one of the few official food stalls. The outrageous prices they encountered came as a shock to many - a coffee was sold for $10, a vegan burger, which the Guardian called external page “frankly horrible”, for $23. Especially for delegates from the most climate-affected countries, such prices posed a huge challenge. Some resorted to bringing pot noodles and eating them with hot water from one of the public fountains. And the Azerbaijani host? They did nothing to prevent the gold rush of private sector companies providing food and accommodation, even after an official complaint from the external page Climate Action Network, a global network of more than 1,900 civil society organizations.
Even more absurd than these prices for individual delegates is the cost of pavilion space in the COP29 Blue Zone. The Blue Zone is a fair where countries, international organizations, lobby groups and NGOs can rent pavilions to promote their agenda, for example by hosting panel discussions. The bigger and shinier you want your pavilion to be, the more you have to pay. While this sounds obvious, it creates a clear bias in whose messages are widely visible and whose are more likely to go unnoticed. For example, one Majority World research organization paid about $80,000 for a basic 50-square-meter pavilion space, which included no decorations and no sound system. They were only able to afford these costs because of outside donor support. Right next to their pavilion were the Qatari and Russian pavilions, each about six times the size of the research organization pavilion and much more visually appealing, with lots of touch screens, elaborate wooden interiors, and fancy giveaways. Guess which pavilion intuitively attracted more visitors?
Gate 3: Navigating the space
For people who suffer from Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), COPs are a challenging space. The number of events taking place simultaneously far exceeds what you might be used to at large academic conferences. The number of panel discussions in the Blue Zone alone is in the thousands over the two weeks, not counting side events, press briefings, official negotiations, and various other events. Attending the COP for the first time, I was initially completely overwhelmed by the program. Understanding the space and how to navigate it is a less obvious, but no less powerful gatekeeper. Without prioritizing your time and energy, it is easy to get lost just wandering around the COP grounds and to get caught up in the frenzy of tens of thousands of people running around in a hurry.
What helped me tremendously was the guidance of a senior colleague who had been to several COPs. She pointed out parts of the program to watch out for, explained how to best connect with people, and outlined many of the unwritten "rules of the game" (besides telling me which pavilion had the best free giveaways). One such "rule of the game" I vividly remember was a high-level reception with a "smart casual" dress code. Either I was the only person to read the invitation correctly or I was unaware of some "unwritten rule" - in any case, I was the only person to show up in smart casual, while everyone else came in full business attire.
Gate 4: Knowing the right people
Everyone at the COP has an agenda. Some are there for outright greenwashing, like the nuclear industry promoting nuclear energy as “green”, the oil-exporting countries explaining how great a material plastic is, or external page Saudi Arabia outright manipulating negotiation texts. Others, however, come with a genuine motivation to promote climate action. But how do you make your voice heard in a room where hundreds of events take place every day? You have to get through the last gate: having the right connections. In my case, I ended up presenting our research on environmental migration in Bangladesh in three different contexts: First, during a series of events showcasing Swiss contributions to climate science, to which I was invited as a representative of ETH. Second, during a panel discussion at the pavilion of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), for which the call for speakers was sent out via a mailing list. And third, at a self-organized event to launch our external page documentary at the pavilion of the external page International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), a partner organization of our research project in Bangladesh. As these examples show, COPs are a platform that gives visibility to those who already have it, while it can be difficult for those without prior connections to get their names on the program.
Clearly, it is not easy to gain access to spaces like COP. But this should not be discouraging: In recent years, newly established organizations such as the external page Youth Negotiators Academy are enabling and empowering young people “to deliver transformative change in the decision-making process and beyond, as well as to redress the systemic inequalities of representation and leadership of young people in multilateral and environmental treaty negotiations”. If you are motivated to attend a COP or similar international fora but don’t know where to start, feel free to reach out!
Jan Freihardt has a background in environmental engineering and political science and works as a postdoctoral researcher in the Global Health Engineering group. His research focuses on climate-induced migration and climate adaptation.