The Environmental Law Program (ELP) is sending a delegation of students and faculty members to the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow, UK from October 31 to November 12.

This year’s ELP delegation is comprised of students Joseph Udell ’22 and Naima Te Maile ’23, and Professors David Forman ’93 and Denise Antolini; Richard Wallsgrove ʻ08 is helping coordinate the delegation from Honolulu. They will be joined by Professor and Associate Dean Chip Fletcher (School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology), and recent graduate Colin Lee ’21, who is working with Professor Fletcher as a Climate Change and Resilience Policy Analyst.  

Approximately two hundred nations around the world meet each year at the COP to negotiate advancements in international climate law and policy. For example, 2015’s COP 21 yielded the now-famous Paris Agreement. At COP 26, the parties will be negotiating issues such as carbon market mechanisms, climate funding for vulnerable countries, and accelerating domestic decarbonization targets. The University of Hawaiʻi participates as an official UNFCCC observer delegation, including ELP-led delegations in 2018 (Katowice, Poland) and 2019 (Madrid, Spain). 

For more information on COP26, visit the official event website here.