Can climate action beat geopolitical headwinds in 2026?

What can we expect in 2026 as countries enter the second half of this critical decade for climate action?

Speakers

Tulio Andrade - COP30 Chief Strategy and Alignment Officer

Tulio Andrade is the COP30 Strategy and Alignment Officer. Career diplomat since 2009, with postings in London and Tokyo. Served as Head for Climate Negotiation at Brazil's Foreign Ministry from 2023 to 2025, including at the 2023 Dubai Climate Summit (COP28), COP29, and the 2024 G20 Task-Force on a Global Mobilization against Climate Change (TF-CLIMA).

Jennifer Morgan - Senior fellow, Center for International Environment and Resource Policy and Climate Policy Lab, Tufts University.

Jennifer Morgan is currently a senior fellow at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy and Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University. As State Secretary and Special Envoy for the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, she led the development and implementation of the groundbreaking Climate Foreign Policy strategy, which was approved by the Cabinet. Besides leading Germany’s delegation to the UNFCCC negotiations, she focused her time on building partnerships with developing countries and pursuing an all-of-society public diplomacy approach. She is a leading voice in the conversation on how foreign policy must evolve to address the urgent climate challenges of our time.

Erica Westenberg - Governance Programs Director, Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI)

Erica Westenberg is the Director of Governance Programs at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). She is a lawyer and provides policy advice on transparency and good governance in resource-rich countries worldwide. Prior to joining NRGI, she was in the energy and infrastructure group at Skadden Arps, where she advised clients on energy, natural resource, and infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the United States.

Alex Rafalowicz – Executive Director at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative

Alex Rafalowicz has worked as a policy analyst, campaigner, organiser and strategist for climate justice for 15 years including with the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, the Climate Action Network, and 350.Org. He has worked on digital and electoral campaigns across the Americas, Europe, and Australia. He has a first class honours degree in law from the Australian National University and Masters in Economics from the Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research. He lives in Bogotá, Colombia with his family.