Bon COP / Bad COP?

From November 10 – 21, 2025, leaders, delegates, advocates and experts from around the world met for the 30^th annual conference of the parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. Concordia English professor and Associate Dean (FAS) Jill Didur, and Next-Gen Cities Institute Manager Michael Bossert were on site.

Following COP 30, on February 7, 2026, Concordia alumni and co-founder of Recycla, Wanda Stamford, attended the UNEP’s INC 5.3 - the 5^th session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.

Join us as we discuss their impressions and insights from these globally significant events.

How can you participate? Join us in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca

Jill Didur

Jill Didur is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of critical Anthropocene studies, sustainability, the environmental humanities, and postcolonial studies. She studies the potentiality of language, narrative, aesthetic forms, and digital and material culture to redirect the culturally embedded positionality of ‘the human’ in the “New Climate Regime.” She is a Professor in the Department of English at Concordia University, Montreal, as well as the Co-Director of the Speculative Life Research Cluster, at the Milieux Institute.

Michael Bossert

Michael Bossert is the Manager of Strategy, Innovation and Outreach at Concordia University’s Next-Generation Cities. Michael is a visionary innovation strategist driving impactful urban transformation and research initiatives, with deep expertise in living labs and urban labs settings. As a member of the Advisory Board of the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), he leads a Community of Practice comprising internationally renowned universities focused on Campus as Living Lab settings. This initiative accelerates the transformation of Higher Education Institutions, positioning them as driving forces within their innovation ecosystems and catalysts for urban transformation.

Wanda Stamford Steiner

Wanda Stamford Steiner is a Concordia University alumni and co-founder of Recycla, where she acts to address the global plastic crisis through education, policy awareness and research on mechanical recycling of 3D printing waste (PLA) generated in Montreal. With a bachelors in business technology, Wanda has experience in managing technology, cultural and environmental projects that seek to support both society and industry. Her passion is in empowering youth to address socio-environmental issues as well as in the intersection of sustainability and technology, focusing on improving the current waste management processes to address the plastic crisis locally yet with the global landscape in mind.