NSF Money Runs Dry for Program Sending Students to Climate Talks
COP 31 Press Conferences • United NationsNovember 12, 2026
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The Climate Leaders Academy's National Science Foundation funding is ending, faculty said at a Nov. 12, 2026, COP31 press conference, even as they reported that students who attend the U.N. climate talks go on to change careers. Four university panelists and one undergraduate made the case that student participation should become a permanent part of higher education. No funder has been identified to pick it up.
- NSF funding is running out for the Vanderbilt-led, four-university Climate Leaders Academy
- Students who attended COP moved into teaching, corporate sustainability, medicine and community organizing
- Panelists urged universities to institutionalize COP participation rather than offer one-off trips
- Audience members pressed for follow-up for host-country youth volunteers in Türkiye
Why it matters: The Climate Leaders Academy is a four-year program funded by the National Science Foundation. With that money ending, the model will continue only if universities or new funders pay for it.
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