Hope and Skepticism Leading Up to COP30

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As the world looks ahead to COP30, conversations in France reflect a tension between urgency and disillusionment. From the journalists who shape public narratives, to activist communities pushing for bolder action, perspectives in Paris capture both the hope for systemic change and the skepticism born of repeated disappointments. This event explores how these voices are framing the climate debate in France, and how their insights resonate within global negotiations.

Panel

Nina Berman is an American documentary photographer, filmmaker, journalist, and professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her work looks at war, militarism, trauma, and environmental justice. She is a 2025 Guggenheim fellow, the author of three books, and is represented in numerous public collections including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Smithsonian. Berman is a Fellow at the Insitute for Ideas and Imagination this year.

Aline Brachet, is a French journalist who covers climate-related topics at AEF info, a news agency.

Dominique Palmer is an award-winning Youth Climate Justice Advocate, global Speaker, writer, artist, and a graduate of Political Science student and International Relations in the U.K. She works on uniting people for climate action, speaking to world leaders, intersectional climate justice, making environmental spaces inclusive, and using creative means and the arts to create a cultural shift for protecting our earth. She is also an advocate of sustainable fashion and has modelled for earth focused campaigns.

This event is part of a global series, Road to COP30: Local Voices, Global Pathways, hosted by the Columbia Global Centers.

This event is co-organized by the Columbia Global Paris Center, Columbia Global, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination.