Inside the Human Aspect of Climate Meetings — a Collection of COP Memories
COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago (C) listens to his advisers next to United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell (L) after the plenary session was interrupted following Colombia's intervention at the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belem, Para state, Brazil, on November 22, 2025.
Photographer: Pablo Porciuncula/Getty ImagesCOP talks bring together thousands of people once a year with a goal to advance the fight against climate change. They’re cathartic events where hyper-technical diplomatic talk takes center stage. But as is often the case when very large numbers of humans congregate in a single place, there are also tears, laughs and anger.
To commemorate three decades of UN-sponsored Conference of Parties meetings, and a decade since the Paris Agreement was signed, Bloomberg Green asked some of the world’s most significant climate diplomats, researchers, analysts and activists to recount their starkest COP memories. The answers were published as part of the Green Daily newsletter during COP30 and are compiled below.