Supporting Youth Negotiators at COPs: Polly’s Role in Overcoming Barriers in Climate Diplomacy
By Nurfatin Hamzah and Niña Cerilla
The Conference of the Parties (COP) system encompasses several crucial environmental conventions, with the annual UN Climate Change COP representing the world's most significant platform for climate action. While COP29 - held in Baku, Azerbaijan last November 11 to 22, 2024 - placed a particular spotlight on climate finance through discussions of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), parallel COP processes for biodiversity (CBD) and desertification (UNCCD) convene every two years to address their respective environmental challenges.
In these high-stakes environments where decisions shape the future of global climate funding and environmental action, youth negotiators are increasingly taking their place at the table. However, the technical complexity of finance discussions, language barriers, and procedural intricacies can present significant obstacles for these emerging voices.
Enter Polly, an AI assistant developed by GainForest and Youth Negotiators Academy. Both organizations actively participated in both COP29 in Baku and the UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (December 2-13, 2024), where Polly proved instrumental in supporting youth negotiators to navigate these complex discussions across different environmental conventions.
Polly: Addressing the Challenges Faced by Youth Negotiators
Since last year's COP28 in Dubai, UAE, GainForest has strengthened its partnership with the Youth Negotiators Academy (YNA). Launched in 2022, YNA equips young leaders aged 18-35 with the skills, knowledge, networks, and resources needed to drive meaningful change in environmental treaty negotiations, particularly within the Three Rio Conventions. Through comprehensive programs focused on climate, land, and biodiversity, YNA works to address systemic inequalities in global environmental governance, with a particular emphasis on empowering voices from the Global South who have historically faced barriers to meaningful participation in these critical decision-making processes.
The complex history and technical processes of climate discussions often creates significant barriers for youth participants. These challenges reflect broader inequalities in climate diplomacy, where young people from marginalized backgrounds struggle to navigate complex negotiations.
The systemic challenges faced by youth negotiators include:
Language barrier. Many youth negotiators are non-native English speakers, and most COP documents and discussions are in English, making it hard to understand complex material and communicate effectively.
Time pressure. Tight deadlines and the large volume of information make it difficult to gather, analyze, and make timely interventions, especially with the complexity of climate issues.
Understanding complex concepts. The technical nature of climate negotiations makes it hard for youth negotiators, especially newcomers, to quickly grasp key concepts and contribute effectively.
Rapid response requirements. The fast-paced environment of COP requires quick responses, but youth negotiators may struggle to access the necessary information in time to make confident interventions.
Access to reliable information. Youth negotiators often find it hard to locate accurate and up-to-date information when they need it, which affects their ability to make informed decisions and participate in discussions.
Credibility challenges. In high-stakes negotiations, youth negotiators may not be taken seriously by more experienced negotiators, despite the importance of their contributions.
How Polly Supported Negotiators at COP29
Pre-COP Preparation
Before COP29, Polly was introduced as part of Module 9: AI Negotiation Tools and Technologies, one of the training modules for the Climate Youth Negotiators Program (CYNP). This session familiarized youth negotiators with Polly’s capabilities, such as document analysis and procedural guidance. Participants received a detailed walkthrough of its features and a cheat sheet with tips for maximizing its utility during negotiations. This preparation ensured negotiators were equipped to use Polly confidently in the high-pressure environment of COP29.
On-the-Ground Support at COP29
At COP29, the Youth Negotiators Academy (YNA) understood how stressful the event can be for youth negotiators. To support them, they created the YNA Hotspot—a designated corner in the venue where negotiators could unwind and seek support, whether emotional or, in our case, technical.
As part of this initiative, Nurfatin Hamzah, GainForest’s Community Manager, hosted daily office hours at the Hotspot. During these sessions, Nurfatin was available to offer support and guidance on how to use Polly. She engaged one-on-one with youth negotiators from 14 countries, most of whom did not have English as their first language. Nurfatin listened to their challenges, provided tailored assistance, and demonstrated how Polly could assist with tasks like understanding complex concepts, analyzing negotiation texts, and drafting interventions.
“Polly is an excellent tool. It’s been incredibly helpful in navigating the first week at COP, particularly with negotiations related to the SBI and SBSTA. I’d highly recommend expanding it to cover other topics—it’s such a valuable resource!”
- Emmanuel Elogima Vandi, Youth Negotiator from Sierra Leone
This direct engagement not only ensured negotiators understood how to use Polly effectively but also highlighted GainForest’s ongoing commitment to supporting youth negotiators with practical, accessible tools.
Feedback and Continuous Improvement
Hosting office hours at COP29 gave us a valuable opportunity to gather feedback on Polly’s performance. Negotiators shared their experiences and suggested improvements, including expanding its database with more recent UNFCCC documents and creating thematic resources for specific negotiation topics. This input will guide Polly’s ongoing development, ensuring it continues to evolve to meet user needs and adapt to the dynamic demands of COP negotiations.
Building on our experience supporting youth negotiators at COP29, GainForest expanded its reach to address AI adoption in environmental negotiations more broadly. This commitment to advancing AI literacy in climate diplomacy led to our participation in UNCCD COP16, where we shared insights on responsible AI implementation with a wider audience of negotiators and stakeholders.
AI Negotiation Tools and Technologies at UNCCD COP16
At UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh, our co-founder Dr. David Dao joined YNA co-founder Marie-Claire Graf to lead a session exploring AI applications in climate negotiations. "The use of technology should not take away our voice but should empower it," Dr. Dao emphasized. His presentation highlighted pressing concerns about global data representation in AI systems and demonstrated their current capabilities and limitations through practical examples.
The session featured hands-on demonstrations of several AI tools including Google's NotebookLM and Polly. David showcased how these technologies can enhance the negotiation process through document analysis, summarization of draft decisions, and recommendation generation. He demonstrated their practical applications in making complex negotiation content more accessible, including features for multilingual explanations and simplified breakdowns of technical documents.
The discussion then shifted to crucial considerations around AI implementation, from data privacy to ethical usage in multilateral settings. David and Marie-Claire shared practical strategies for responsible AI adoption, exploring innovative approaches to prompting while consistently emphasizing that these tools should enhance, not substitute, human judgment in the negotiation process.
AI tools like Polly are reshaping climate negotiations, with GainForest making complex diplomacy more accessible to young advocates. By working closely with YNA and learning from youth negotiators' experiences, we're creating ways for the next generation to meaningfully participate in climate policy.
The experiences at both COP29 and UNCCD COP16 demonstrate that when technology is thoughtfully deployed to support human expertise, it can help bridge long-standing gaps in climate negotiations and empower the next generation of climate leaders.
We invite youth negotiators and climate organizations to join us in this journey - reach out to us at team@gainforest.net to explore how Polly can support your delegation or to share your experiences in climate negotiations. Together, we can ensure more diverse voices shape our climate future.