COP30 Student Delegate
Davis Turner is a fourth year in the College (’26) from California majoring in Environment, Geography, and Urbanization (CEGU) and economics, in addition to minoring in East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC). He is particularly interested in using knowledge of law, economics, and policy to positively influence urban and regional development outcomes in cities. Davis serves as the editorial lead for Expositions Magazine—an urban studies publication on campus—and has interned with the Chicago Housing Authority and other public servants to promote equitable urban development in Chicago and beyond.
Davis attended COP30 with the Institute in November 2025.
“I am returning to Chicago from COP30 awed by the interdisciplinary approaches to emissions abatement I learned about in panels, action rooms, and side events. I now recognize that the number of actors who have leverage in climate policymaking extends far beyond academic and government circles; public defenders have a role in protecting sacred lands just as mountainous countries have a role in guiding research on the biodiversity losses they are experiencing at unprecedented scales. Negotiations may be long, tedious, and riddled with minutiae, but in watching the passion with which delegates spoke about the environmental values of their country, I take a renewed, vested interest in the legal frameworks that so importantly shape the future of emission reductions in Illinois, the United States, and the rest of the world.”