UCL Union President Goksu Danaci last week admitted she “didn’t feel too comfortable” during her time at the UN climate conference.
She said she only briefly spoke once on stage at a youth event after spending a full week in Baku, Azerbaijan where this year’s conference was held.
Danaci also downplayed her role and described her “first and likely last” COP summit as more about observation and networking.
However, assuming she took an economy flight, the Union President’s brief visit to the Eurasian petrostate would have racked up 1.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to the Carbon Footprint Calculator.
Before setting off on the 5,000-mile round trip to Azerbaijan, the Union President said she would seek to “Amplify the student voice in climate action and explore what COP29 has to offer to strengthen the Union’s impact on sustainability efforts.”
However, her post-trip reflections were less encouraging than she might have initially hoped.
She said her initial feelings were “mixed”, adding: “Mindful of the limitations of the negotiations and my role, I didn’t feel too comfortable.”
Nonetheless, she said she felt “deeply privileged” to be part of UCL’s COP delegation, which included ten climate experts specialising in fields such as climate finance, global health, biodiversity, and public policy.
In an Instagram Reel, she added: “Even though there’s anxiety on climate change, the youth voice is strong and it’s good to have representation here.”
This year’s COP was mired with controversy from start to finish, as senior global leaders and environmental activists lined up to criticise the conference.
They include Greta Thunberg, who labelled the summit as “greenwashing conferences” and former UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon, who said the COP process was “no longer fit for purpose”.
It comes as the $300bn climate finance deal agreed at the eleventh hour – which Donald Trump has already pledged to remove the US from – was deemed woefully insufficient by its intended recipients.
Earlier in the week, Azerbaijan’s president told delegates that oil and gas were a “gift of God” whilst his deputy energy minister was exposed for secretly promoting oil and gas deals during the climate summit.
Back home, ex-Treasury minister and Labour MP Graham Stringer took aim at the size of the UK delegation, telling the Mail on Sunday: “There are more private jets and large jets going to Baku than anywhere else at the moment.”
A total of 66,778 delegates attended this year’s summit summit in Azerbaijan, up from 16,000 delegates just seven years ago.
The UK alone sent 470 delegates, 354 of which were government ministers and officials, leaving 116 delegates including business representatives, policy experts, journalists, and UCL Union President Goksu Danaci.
This is not the first time a Union sabbatical officer attended the UN climate summit.
Last year, former President Mary McHarg set a precedent when she joined the UCL delegation to COP28 in Dubai, which also had its fair share of controversy.
But one source close to The Cheese Grater said McHarg got to go to COP “not because she was president of the SU but because she was Mary”, referring to the University’s particular fondness of the former president.
Nonetheless, Danaci was the only sabbatical officer from a UK students’ union to attend this year’s COP summit, according to the list of registered participants.
The Union President said she had “done [her] best to provide representation of UCL students” and insisted the Union was “in a strong position to champion youth involvement in sustainability”.
She said she would be sharing more details next week about how she would address climate change and environmental sustainability at UCL.
This article appeared in the Digestive 5
