KSR at COP30

Humanity's best hope to combat climate change. Green capitalism's annual gathering. Multilateralism in action. A big circus. Science and policy coming together. Yet more lack of progress. An opportunity for civil society to be heard. An open door to oil and agriculture lobbyists. A semblance of order. A sensation of chaos. The UN COP process is all of that at the same time, a reflection of how complex the climate change issue is, something that The Ministry for the Future tried to reflect.

KSR went to COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 as an invitee of the UK government. This year he went to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, November 10-21, as part of the United Nations organization itself (given that the US had no delegation whatsoever, a stupid decision that however did not sabotage discussions). He participated in various panel events, had several interviews, met various people. Where to start?

A highlight was his 17/Nov reading from MftF at the UNFCCC pavilion, under the noise of a tropical thunderstorm (also echoed by the UNFCCC convenor, Gaurav Monga, on his LinkedIn):

Some more events with KSR, not always recorded, and I'm quite sure this is only a partial list:

• UNFCCC process proper 12/Nov: Nairobi Work Programme Focal Point Forum on Co-Creating Knowledge Systems for a Resilient Future: keynote "Imagination as a pillar of visioning future resilience" (UNFCCC recording + IISD photos)
• UN pavilion 15/Nov: "Futures at Stake: Storytelling, Disinformation, and the Fight for Climate Truth", with, among others, Johan Rockstrom (YouTube recording)
• The COP Resilience Hub 15/Nov: "The Ministry for the Future: Imagining innovative models for adaptation finance" (YouTube recording + Instagram clip)
• TED Countdown House at Casa Mia Eventos 13/Nov: "Intergenerational town hall: the Global South lights the way to the future" (event page, UN Foundation) + 16/Nov: MftF reading (event page)
• Malaysia pavilion 17/Nov: Narratives of Hope & Resilience with writer Jan Lee (Facebook recording + Genevieve Hilton LinkedIn, Sunway Centre LinkedIn, Malaysia Pavilion Instagram, Facebook poster 1 & 2)
• Ocean Pavilion 17/Nov: keynote to introduce the Belém Ocean Declaration (UCSD news, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution news, Instagram mention)
• C.A.S.E. Coalition house 11-17/Nov: (unknown event participation) (Lourenço Bustani LinkedIn, Instagram)

+ various sightings of KSR around the COP premises (Hunter Lovins at Climate & Capital Media, Guido Núñez-Mujica Instagram, John Muligan LinkedIn, Carbon News report)...

+ facilitated by Bloomberg/Zero podcast host Akshat Rathi, KSR met the "Minister for the Future" himself, i.e. the President of the COP, André Correa do Lago! (Akshat Rathi LinkedIn, Bloomberg)

On top of those, there are some interviews in various outlets to report as well. Chronologically:

• 3/Nov Resonance FM's The Heat with Geoff Ryman https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/micro-clear-spot-3-november-2025-the-heat-1/
• 4/Nov Germany's Die Zeit: "Wir alle stecken heute mitten in einem Science-Fiction-Roman" (in German, "Today, we are all living in the middle of a science fiction novel")
• 13/Nov Brazil's piauí: "Agora as pessoas têm que ler ficção científica para entender a própria realidade" (in Portuguese, "Now people have to read science fiction to understand their own reality")
• 18/Nov surprise appearence of KSR in The Guardian's COP30 live feed  + quote relayed on Instagram
• 21/Nov Andy Revkin interview with KSR and Brazilian environmental journalist Cristiane Prizibisczki, reflecting on this COP and the whole COP process (YouTube recording, Facebook video, Substack video, LinkedIn post)
• 27/Nov The Outrage+Optimism podcast co-hosted by ex-UNFCCC President Christiana Figueres (Pocketcasts), with this insightful quote: "Reading is like a dream you remember"

Next novel tease

As mentioned before, KSR's non-fiction book focused on Antarctica should be published soon, in the same format of mixing forms and images as his The High Sierra: A Love Story.

Now KSR is also working on a fiction novel, this one focused on the Arctic! This is teased in both the first and especially the last two interviews above. This would be looking at climate interventions for sea ice in the Arctic, a region he has focused on less than the Antarctic. After the MftF rush, he now has a plan, characters and plot, and he will be working on it this winter. This is too early to give more details, so to be continued.

New editions with new covers

Hot off the press: Del Rey/Penguin Random House has just re-edited the paperback editions of three novels with beautiful new covers. Here they are: Antarctica, The Years of Rice and Salt, and Galileo's Dream, click for HD versions: