All Eyes on COP30 - What You Need to Know Before COP30

“Changing by choice gives us the chance for a future that is not dictated by climate tragedy, but rather by resilience and agency towards a vision we design ourselves.” – Andre Correa do Lago, 2025.

We are only a few days away from the 30^th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP30), a yearly international conference under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Starting on the 10^th of November, 50 000 delegates will come together in the middle of the Amazon rainforest in Belém, Brazil. Over two weeks, negotiations on key climate change topics will take place between parties that signed the Paris Agreement (from COP21).

This COP is coming at a particularly symbolic time as it will mark 20 years since the Kyoto Protocol and 10 years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement – two landmark treaties that have accelerated global climate action. Without the later, it is estimated that the world would have been on course for a 4°C warming, instead of the current projected 2.1°C to 2.6°C warming. Moreover, it also occurs 80 years after the end of World War II and the creation of the United Nations, together, these milestones represent a fundamental global alliance towards common good.

However, COP30 is also taking place at a particularly vulnerable and urgent time. The year 2024 saw global warming surpass the 1.5°C threshold, shifting from a warning to a reality. This coincides with the catastrophic decline of the world’s coral reefs marking the first major climate tipping point to be triggered. Alongside newly identified negative feedback loops beneath Antarctic ice and within Australia’s forests, these developments signal that our planetary systems are already beginning to fail.

Therefore, Brazil is expected to set the priorities and key themes that will guide global discussions toward tangible action. In his inaugural letter to the global community, COP30 President-Designate André Corrêa do Lago, established the guiding principle for, what he hopes to be, another pivotal summit: “cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity”. He frames this call to action through the concept of “Mutirão” – a term from Brazil’s Indigenous communities that describe collective action for the common good. Do Lago is, essentially, inviting the international community to join a global mutirão against climate change.

Do Lago also calls for this COP to be “the moment we align international financial flows and merge the digital and climate transitions into one single new industrial revolution that is climate conscious”. The president’s call for action extends to ecosystem conservations and highlights the crucial role that forests and the people who protect them play in the fight against climate change. Later in his letter, he announces the creation of the “Baku to Belem Roadmap to 1.3T” which will mobilise $1.3 trillion per year towards low-carbon and climate-resilient pathways in developing countries.

Moreover, a central and urgent topic at COP30 will be the glaring ambition gap in the latest round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The national climate plans, which outline each country’s commitment to reducing their climate impacts, were to be updated in February 2025, yet only 20 out of 195 Paris Agreement signatories submitted their NDCs on time. COP30 must address the bottlenecks of the process and the failure of political will and establish solutions to ensure all countries deliver robust and timely NDCs.

Among these urgent matters, COP30 will address various themes including energy, cities, and technology and innovation as seen in this following list:

Belem, Brazil

Brazil has undoubtedly embraced its role as host of COP30, intending to mark a historic moment of transition towards a “post-negotiation” phase which prioritises actions over promises. The choice of the Amazon as the host location was a powerful symbol of the commitment to protect forests – which earned the 30^th session the name “Amazon COP”. Yet, this symbolism has been undermined by the construction of a new four-lane highway through the rainforest to facilitate transport to the summit. Furthermore, in a move that appears at odds with the summit’s goals, the Brazilian government granted its state-owned oil giant, Petrobras, new licenses to explore for oil in the Amazon region just weeks before the conference begins.

If Brazil truly wants to see a new era of climate action aligned with a well-below 2°C pathway, it must match its global rhetoric with smarter, future-oriented decisions at home. As the host nation, Brazil has taken on a position of leadership which they have defined by a clear standard. In the words of its own preliminary letter: “Lack of ambition will be judged as lack of leadership as there will be no global leadership in the 21^st century that is not defined by climate leadership”. The world now has eyes on Brazil to ensure they truly want to transition towards implementation and execution.

Attendees

As COP30 is also referred to as “the COP of implementation”, ensuring all voices are heard is a necessity. However, this faces multiple challenges.

The past two COPs have been criticised for the outsized presence of fossil fuel lobbyists. COP28 in Dubai set a record with over 2,500 in attendance, while at COP29 in Baku their number exceeded the combined delegations of the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries. This has raised concerns that negotiations may be pushed in the wrong direction. Consequently, expectations for Brazil to limit access to fossil fuel lobbyists at COP30 are exceptionally high.

This is paired with a noticeable decline in high-level political commitment. The number of registered world leaders for COP30 has dropped to just 60, a sharp decrease from 80 in Baku and 150 in Dubai. At a moment of undeniable climate urgency, the absence of more than a third of the 198 parties to the UNFCCC sends a disheartening signal about the priority being given to this crisis.

Lastly, it is more critical than ever to centre the voices of those most committed and vulnerable. Brazil has taken a crucial step in this direction by establishing a “Circle of Indigenous Leadership”. This initiative aims to ensure that the traditional knowledge of Indigenous communities is integrated into global climate discussions.

The “Amazon COP” arrives at a pivotal moment. With the impacts of the climate crisis escalating globally, the responsibilities of world leaders are clear and non-negotiable: to decarbonise their economies, implement robust adaptation strategies, and finally deliver the finance promised to vulnerable and developing nations. Building on 29 previous conferences, COP30 must be the summit that turns negotiation into tangible action. The success of this session will be measured in a single way: its ability to close the ambition gaps on finance, decarbonisation, adaptation, and resilience, once and for all.

Climate Action for Associations (CAFA) is pleased to announce that we will be attending COP30 with virtual passes, providing our members with direct reporting from the heart of the negotiations. We are committed to delivering daily insights and a comprehensive end-of-COP report to ensure you stay fully informed on the outcomes that matter to membership organisations and their members.

Learn more about CAFA an how you can join our collective here.