Proof of registration, via a QR code on your phone or on paper, will be required to enter Reid Hall. Entry will be refused to those who are not registered. Please note that access will not be permitted 15 minutes after the start of the event.
This event will be held in English.
Organized by the Columbia Global Paris Center, Columbia Global, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination.
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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.
This event is part of a global series, Road to COP30: Local Voices, Global Pathways, hosted by the Columbia Global Centers. Each week, one of the Columbia Global Centers convenes an online event that looks at the big questions shaping local climate conversations and how they connect to global climate negotiations. Explore the full series and sign up for future events here.
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. She is currently a Fellow at the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, where she works on a project about communities which have formed in response to the climate crisis and the failure of political leadership to make the substantial systemic changes required to protect and sustain life.
Aline Brachet is a French journalist specializing in energy, climate, and environmental policies, with a focus on French and European institutions. She has been covering climate negotiations and COP for 15 years. She is also a freelance teacher at Le Celsa (School of Journalism of Sorbonne Université) on covering climate issues. She currently works for AEF info, a digital press group that provides in-depth coverage for decision-makers in major socio-economic fields: education/teaching, research, social/human resources, employment, vocational training, sustainable development, housing/urban planning, and security. AEF info is also a signatory of France’s charter for journalism, designed to help journalists meet the climate emergency.
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.
Venue
This event will take place in Reid Hall’s Grande Salle Ginsberg-LeClerc, built in 1912 and extensively renovated in 2023 thanks to the generous support of Judith Ginsberg and Paul LeClerc.
Reid Hall, the Columbia Global Paris Center, and the Institute for Ideas and Imagination are not responsible for the views and opinions expressed by their speakers and guests.
