It is hard to believe that in less than a week, I will finish my very last final and hop on a plane to head out to Katowice, Poland and attend COP24. Opportunities like this, where I can work with organizations like my client, the International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD),and rub elbows with the diplomats and professionals working to fight against global climate change, are the reason why I chose to attend the Nicholas School of the Environment. Since I entered the renewable energy industry 3 years ago, I have had dreams of assisting in sustainable energy system development. I see myself in the future working around the globe to assist developing countries across Africa and Latin America. To think now that I will be joining the conversation on how parties to the UNFCCC can work together to make sustainable development a reality is beyond belief. I cannot wait to put to use the information on renewable energy, international negotiation, and climate change policy I have gained in my first semester of graduate school during these conversations.
My role with ICTSD is especially in sync with the interests that I have held throughout my experience in Duke’s United Nations Climate Change Negotiations Practicum. With my interests in sustainable energy 
system development, I have often wondered how the United Nations could coordinate the actions of developed and developing countries and bring them together to benefit from one another in their plans for development. During the COP, I will be able to explore these ideas in detail as I assist ICTSD in their monitoring of the negotiations’ discussion on implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which discusses cooperative approaches and response measures. Cooperative approaches would prospectively allow countries to work together through inter-country development and international trading of mitigation outcomes (ITMOs) to surpass the mitigation achievements planned in current NDCs.1 Such possibilities for mutually beneficial coordination are what inspire me most about international development work.
This particular COP will be especially influential, as negotiators have set a goal of finishing the Paris Rulebook (the guidelines on how the Paris agreement will be implemented) by the COP’s final day, December 14th. Plus, with the recent release of the United States’ latest National Climate Assessment2 and the IPCC “Global Warming of 1.5°C” special report3 so closely preceding the talks, lawmakers will be under even greater 
pressure to answer to the stark realities that continuation of our current rate of CO2e emissions will induce. Much anticipation is arising over how coal as a fuel source will be discussed within negotiations, being that COP24 will be held in Poland, the second-largest coal producing country in Europe, and the United States’ administration’s push for support of the coal industry.4 Watching how this dynamic unfolds, along with the progress of Article 6 implementation plans and discussion over increasing worldwide energy access, is going to be fascinating and is something I look forward to exploring in more detail over the course of COP24.
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