Joud is from Saudi Arabia and was educated in the US and UK. She’s a passionate climate justice advocate who believes high-income countries have an obligation to finance a fossil fuel free future. Having attended COP 28 as one of the University’s student observers, Joud found her understanding of Eastern and Western viewpoints, and high-income and low-income nations’ interests, significantly impacted her experience.1
“I’m one of those people whose current quality of life would not be the same if it weren’t for fossil fuels,” says Joud. “I would not have received education or have been a student at Edinburgh or have received free healthcare, in the way that I have as a Saudi citizen, if it weren’t for fossil fuels.
“That is tough to admit as a Sustainable Development student, whose country is particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis, and as someone wanting to fight for the rest of her life for climate justice…”
Reflecting on COP 28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Dubai in December 2023, Joud is honest and self-aware about any privilege in her upbringing and conscious of the responsibility that comes with it.
“I’ve lived abroad most of my life, but I would go home every summer to Saudi, so I know a part of the world that most of my peers in the West don’t understand quite as well,” Joud says.
“I’m able to merge multiple perspectives and their roots. That’s why I’ve had to think very critically and not just point fingers. That’s one of the things COP forced me to keep doing in order to come to fairer and more holistic conclusions – it reminded me why this is what I need to be doing in my day-to-day life.”
Formative experiences
Aged just 19, the second-year MA Sustainable Development student, who is following a pathway in politics and international relations, recalls several formative experiences that shaped and focused her current convictions.
She was at elementary school in Tunisia during the Arab Spring in 2010. She credits that experience for her later interest in politics, history, and empire; and a desire to understand why certain groups suffer more than others and how mediation and reparation might redress past injustice.
Then, in 2017, she was at school in Texas when Hurricane Harvey made landfall causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths.
“I think that’s when I first started understanding the potential impact when thinking of the climate crisis,” says Joud.
“While people weren’t tying the hurricane to the climate crisis, I remember wondering if it was related somehow. The more I looked into it, seeing how many people in my community were affected, with houses flooded and unable to go to school for weeks, I began to appreciate this was in a high-income part of the world where we were able to adapt and recover. I imagined what would be happening in low-income countries who don’t have the resources to come back from that sort of thing.”
Nuance
There was high demand from students keen to represent the University at COP 28. Joud’s application was successful and she joined a diverse, 12-strong delegation of climate scientists and experts, that included both academics and student representatives.
“The main word I would use to describe COP28 is nuance,” Joud explains.
“Going into the conference, I was not very optimistic. I had been following people whose opinions aligned with mine, who had gone to COP previously and said they felt deflated when they saw the outcome. I was very wary of greenwashing and all the marketing messaging I expected to be happening.
“Having been able to speak to some of the delegates representing their nations felt a lot different than just pointing fingers at home, watching the news, hearing other climate activists talk about this country or that country not doing enough. When you have this person-to-person connection and you’re able to speak to the delegates, you realise they’re real people with their own reasons for what they do.”
Joud believes it’s time nations listen to each other and, rather than calling out as blocking any reluctance to commit, really understand the concerns that drive their position. These include geopolitical vulnerability, a reduction of their global power, simply securing the best life for their citizens, or compensating for the lingering effects of colonial rule and imbalance between nations’ historical contribution to climate change.
Appreciating these different motivations and perspectives has enabled Joud to be more empathetic: “I realised the world is so much more nuanced than I had considered. I noticed just how important the humanities, empathy, and an understanding of people are in this conversation.
“My professors and tutors emphasise critical thinking as arguably one of the most important skills to acquire in life and I found myself applying this as I noted differences in perspectives, and the language used, between low-income economies by UN standards versus the US, EU, and other high-income nations. It showcased the geopolitical divides that complicate and delay climate action. It was just eye opening – you seriously need to think critically about everything; nothing is black and white.”
Fortunately, Joud says, there are signs of change and understanding that she hadn’t seen before: “A Colombian delegate expressed empathy for Saudi Arabia, noting that we often call Saudi out for block tactics and asking what the response from the world was to the fact that they need to transition an entire economy that is currently dependent on fossil fuels.”
Outcome
The theme of nuance is echoed in Joud’s reflections on COP28 overall – she sees good and bad in the outcome, progress, and stagnation: “While the text calls for transition, adaptation is not very clear and neither is how transition is to be done, other than the pledges that many countries have made in light of the finally actioned Loss and Damage fund. These pledges aren’t legally binding and have been criticised as being far too little for what is needed by those most vulnerable to climate breakdown. This is in particular in regards to pledges, or lack-thereof, by some of the highest income and historically emitting countries.
“The words fossil fuels have been incorporated into a COP outcome for the first time, so actionable change seems to finally be underway. But, it is worth noting that I noticed many delegates throughout the conference heavily mentioning carbon-capture or other technologies to be used to account for their emissions. These aren’t reliable as a main solution for the crisis and, unsurprisingly, loopholes that may perpetuate such techno-fixes have made their way into the text. Those who are invested in fossil fuels, whatever their reasons may be, can be expected to justify their continued use of fossil fuels through them.
“This all explains the lack of trust in the process from those most vulnerable to climate breakdown, and it showcases how finance can be a core part of our way forward in terms of finding creative ways to fund the fossil fuel phase out. This should be done all while being aware of, and accounting for, differing geopolitical contexts within high and middle-income countries who may prioritise sustainable development in terms of social stability and wellbeing of their people thorough economic growth due to pre-set systems that they feel the need to play into for survival before they can be free to apply their own desired ideals.”
Youth and minority voices
One reason for optimism Joud found at COP 28 was the inclusion of youth and minority voices that haven’t always been prominent in the debate: “I can wholeheartedly say that nothing has impacted me as profoundly as listening to youth climate activists and Indigenous peoples share their views, and I was glad to see them more represented than they have ever been at a COP.
“I was at a youth climate forum about climate impacts on health and human security where I got to hear a lot of the youth speak. One activist said that whatever we do, we just need to do it well. I think that’s a big thing for people working in sustainability. They feel like they’ve got the whole world on their shoulders and so many aspects to look into and fix. That was one of my stresses. I felt I had to know the science; I had to understand the policy; I had to understand the people. But, you can pick one thing and just focus on it and do your best. We all have a role towards making this happen. Whatever it is that you’re doing or working on, just focus on that and do it well.”
Emotions
Summing up her experience overall, Joud describes mixed emotions: “I’m terrified and overwhelmed, yet hopeful.
“I was humbled to be surrounded by leading scientists and organizations that work every day to realise our common goal, irrespective of exclusive negotiations or any shortcomings in high level meetings.
“It’s a huge privilege for us to speak on this crisis and sit in rooms and negotiate, as climate change goes on and those in the global south get hit by its consequences and fight for their lives before those in the global north experience its effects to as large an extent. We are not heroes for our work or passionate about the subject of sustainability. This is not a passion – it’s people’s lives at stake and urgency is the only way to go about it.
“My future and upcoming generations’ futures depend on the action taken today.”
Image credits: Joud Almanie
This feature was revised in October 2025 to reflect current terms of reference and update quotes from Joud Almanie.
- A note on terminology: For brevity throughout this feature, high-income and low-income terms have been used. Joud clarifies this as: “High-income vs upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income, and low-income as classified by the World Bank based on gross national income (GNI) per capita.
“It is also important to recognise that many of these countries in the imperial periphery who have done the least to cause the climate crisis may also, and fully should be allowed to, have alternative, post-extractive economies that prioritise local wellbeing and ecological health in their own terms that may not include capitalistic economic growth. In fact, one of the most important discussions we have in my degree is about the importance of the language used along with the dangers of separating the world into developed vs. developing or nature vs. urban, etc. The same precaution should be applied before pointing out culprits of the climate crisis.
“Everything is interconnected and community is at the heart of the sustainable development that we preach, and I think this involves hearing out other perspectives that may be misunderstood as they seem to be the easiest to blame and paint as climate villains, thus overshadowing real action.” ↩︎
