COP30 Student Delegate
Claire Xie is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, where she serves as President of the Public Finance Association and Vice Chair of the Harris Committee for the Chicago Forum. Before graduate school, she worked at PIMCO, focusing on ESG-linked fixed-income products and sustainable investment strategies. Her experiences sparked a deep interest in the intersection of finance, energy, and public policy—an area she continues to explore through her coursework and projects at Harris.
Xie attended COP30 in November 2025 as part of the Institute’s student delegation.
“COP 30 felt like the moment my academic training, policy instincts, and lived experience finally aligned. Moving through the country pavilions—each with its own framing, priorities, and way of communicating solutions—helped me better understand how different groups shape their climate narratives. Listening to Indigenous speakers describe the Amazon as a living system gave me a more grounded sense of what environmental protection truly means. Learning about the structure of climate finance funds and how they support local resilience made the concepts I study feel more tangible. Observing how people from so many backgrounds share ideas, listen, and collaborate in a shared global space also taught me a lot about communication and coordination. And outside the conference, Brazil’s food, warmth, and relaxed culture added a balance I appreciated. This experience helped me connect research with reality and clarified the kind of thoughtful, cross-system work I hope to grow into.”