Two Whitworth University students have the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the U.N. conference for the first time this year.  

The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also called the Conference of Parties (COP) 29, is running from Nov. 11 to Nov. 22 with the host country being Azerbaijan. 

“This is the preeminent climate policy related meeting to happen in any given year,” said Dylan Richardson, a political science and environmental studies double major. Richardson attended the conference virtually last year and will attend in person this year. “It really does determine the agenda for the climate movement going forward,” he said. 

All types of people of various will attend this conference. Anyone from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, university students, to even Leonardo di Caprio have been seen at the conference before, according to Aaron Hitefield, PhD., a professor in the political science department. There are also many environmentally focused organizations in attendance as well. 

“Every single employer you could possibly imagine that has any interest in environmental policy or environmental governance […] have people there,” said Hitefield. “The networking opportunities for students are wild there,” he said. 

Out of almost 4,000 universities in the United States, only about 200 hundred educational institutions have the opportunity to attend the conference, according to Hitefield. Whitworth University is one of those schools with observer status. 

For the university to attend the U.N. conference is a lengthy application process that takes anywhere from two to five years, according to Hitefield. Whitworth was approved last year, and Hitefield and another professor from Gonzaga University attended COP28 in person. This year they are going to take two students as well: Richardson and Ziona Rose. Rose is an environmental studies major.  

“I’m really excited about being able to fly around the world and bring students to something that very, very few schools have the opportunity to do,” said Hitefield.  

This program is spearheaded by Hitefield and is run by three main groups: the political science department, the environmental studies department, and the honors program, according to Hitefield. That’s why the students offered this opportunity fit into one or more of these categories. In future years they hope to expand this program and have more students outside of those groups attend this once in a lifetime opportunity.  

To attend the UN Conference in person, students must attend the conference virtually in a prior year and then apply to attend. This year, there are 10 virtual students attending COP29 who applied last year, according to Richardson. 

Although four people are going to Azerbaijan, Whitworth only has two quotas for people to be at the conference where the attendees will observe the conversations about climate policy. These spots will be passed between the two students and two professors attending, according to Richardson. 

The U.N. conference is sectioned into two areas — the Blue Zone and the Green Zone. The Whitworth attendees will spend most of the time in the Green Zone. This is where nonprofit organizations, religious groups and other non-governmental organizations convene, according to Hitefield. 

The Blue Zone is reserved for diplomatic discussions between government officials and representatives, according to Richardson. Whitworth observers will have the opportunity to sit in on certain Blue Zone meetings. 

“They could be at a place where history is being made,” said Hitefield. 

While two of the attendees will be at the conference, the other two will have the opportunity to explore and participate in non-COP29 related environmental activities around the city, according to Hitefield.  

These students are attending this event to be able to converse with the most influential people in the environmental policy world. Rose and Richardson both hope to apply these interactions into their own lives and research they are conducting. 

“By participating in COP29, I aim to broaden my knowledge and gain valuable perspectives that will inform my efforts to effect positive change in the realm of global climate governance,” said Rose. 

Richardson and Rose’s attendance at the conference will bring the unique Whitworth University values they uphold.

“That’s something I want to give back to the people who I interact with at COP29,” said Richardson. “A Christian perspective that is radically pro-environments [and] radically in favor of loving our world.”  

The students are going to be keeping journals of everything they do at COP29. Once they return from Azerbaijan, they will be giving talks on campus to share their experience with the Whitworth Community. The students were also interviewed for the Spokane Public Radio. Their interview will be aired sometime before they leave for the conference in November.