Day 4 of COP30: Health, Climate Finance, And The Global Carbon Budget

Two days ago, Day 3 of COP30 focused on the foundation of a just transition: educating and reskilling people, especially the youth, to be ready for new green jobs. Yesterday, Day 4 built on this by addressing the next layer: ensuring those same people can actually access and thrive in these roles. The discussions centered on protecting lives, strengthening health systems, and reducing systemic inequalities – and many panels also covered climate justice, in line with a “people-centered” green and just transition,  and the role of judiciaries in dealing with climate change and its impacts. This day-long event included the President of Brazil, representatives of the International Court of Justice and judges from varied jurisdictions.

The day started with the launch of the “Belém Health Action Plan” (BHAP) led by the Government of Brazil and the World Health Organization. It was created to strengthen climate-resilient health systems and is the first health or climate plan of this kind. The Plan will be integrated into the UNFCCC process making it a key component of the next Global Stocktake at COP33 in 2028. This plan is also aligned with the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) indicators. BHAP will target three interconnected areas including:

1.       Surveillance and monitoring

2.       Evidence-based policies, strategies and capacity building

3.       Innovation production, and digital health

Across these three areas, actions and next steps are outlined based on principles of health equity, climate justice, and participatory governance. 80 countries and international partners have already engaged in this Action Plan and 35 philanthropic organisations have contributed financially.

Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, spoke on the climate-related health risks that communities around the world are increasingly vulnerable to. He stated, “Every measure that strengthens resilience, cuts emissions, or protects ecosystems is also a public health intervention”. In line with BHAP, a new Climate and Health Funders Coalition was formed to fund and support the Plan to become a reality, with an initial $300 million committed.

Climate Finance

Although committing $300 million to strengthening health systems is an incredible achievement, it is grossly insufficient. This is why CAIXABank – a multinational financial services company – launched a protocol to strengthen the bank’s response capacity to extreme weather events. It aims to protect life and improve the safety and resilience of communities in the face of environmental disasters.

Carlos Vieira, President of CAIXA, states that "This protocol aims to strengthen CAIXA's governance and generate resource mobilization, agility, technological integration, information exchange, and cooperation so that we can face the unpredictability of events generated by climate change in the country".

The protocol allows the bank to adapt its services and access resources to best support communities and nations suffering from climate impacts. Measures will include:

-            Government assistance

-            Access to the FGTS (Length-of-Service Guarantee Fund)

-            Temporary suspension of service fees

-            Loan repayments

-            Financing charges

-            Rapid response mechanisms

This is a prime example of how public institutions can adapt their services to best meet the needs of the communities they serve, especially when in a state of crisis. This gives a glimmer of hope that other similar institutions will adopt these practices as their own and contribute to global adaptation and mitigation measures.

Climate Action Tracker Global Update

On another note, in the morning of Day 4, three panelists including Bill Hare from Climate Analytics, and Ana Missirliu and Nicholas Mohne from the NewClimate Institute, discussed the update on global temperatures to 2035. Although 112 NDCs have been updated, with the overall robustness and quality of those plans improving, they are in no shape or form able to reduce the rise of emissions we have been seeing. As seen in the following figure, the emissions gap from the policies and actions is putting us on the path towards 2.6°C by the end of the century.

Essentially, this means that the NDCs are failing. Every 5 years, a Global Stocktake is conducted and is meant to show the decreasing global warming trajectory. However, what we are seeing is quite the opposite. This is due to a couple of reasons. Firstly, if countries are serious about going back to below 1.5°C, they must recalculate their 2030 targets to be more ambitious. However, no country has done so, so far. Moreover, the updated NDCs have new targets that are already achievable with current policies and regulations in place: this means that countries are not enticed to adopt more ambitious policies or stronger climate action. If we follow this path, by 2035, we will be emitting twice as much emissions released today.

However, the silver lining is that if we manage to reach a peak of emissions, the decline that would come afterwards is expected to be more rapid than the increase we are seeing today. This would be thanks to the rapid deployment of renewable energy and the adoption of innovative technologies.

The panelists also took some time to list out countries who have become dependent on carbon credits and natural sinks to reduce the ambition of their NDCs, and these include: Switzerland, the EU, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada among others.

The findings from the morning conference are further reinforced by the launch of the Global Carbon Budget of 2025. Essentially, we have virtually exhausted our carbon budget for 2035, leaving room for only four additional years. And if we keep emitting emissions at this current pace, we will reach a 2°C warming in 25 years.

These findings are especially concerning when back in the EU, leaders are discussing the fate of the Energy Taxation Directive which could maintain tax exemptions for fossil fuels used in aviation, maritime transport and fisheries until 2035. Only a week ago, the EU submitted their updated NDC, which does not align with discussions happening at home. This political double-standard shows that there is a glaring gap between ambition and action.   

Other news concerning COP30

Attention is also turning to the dispute over who will host the 31st session of COP. Australia's bid to co-host with Pacific island nations, once a sure thing, is now in jeopardy with Turkey also aiming for the presidency. Had Australia demonstrated more decisive climate action in recent years, it would have secured more robust support today.

Critics point out that the last two COPs were hosted by major fossil fuel producers, namely Azerbaijan and the UAE. Some argue Turkey is not a better choice, given its close ties to Russia and Saudi Arabia, and that the presidency should therefore go to Australia. However, Australia being the world's largest coal exporter and a major natural gas supplier, the country fails to stand out as a decisively better contender.

It is currently unclear as to whether Australia or Turkey will get to host COP30, but one thing is certain: both countries must be implementing much more ambitious climate initiatives and reduce their dependence on fossil fuels to claim to have “earned the right” to host COP.

Concluding Remarks

It is unmistakable that the recent weather events that we have been experiencing, most recently Typhoon Fung-wong in the Philippines, have increased in frequency and intensity. Climate change discussions therefore must consider strategies that will improve the resilience of vulnerable communities – it is therefore timely for COP30 to adopt a people-first approach to climate action and the climate crisis. Initiatives launched on Day 3 and Day 4 have been carefully created to mitigate climate-related health risks and improve response readiness in the face of extreme weather events.

However, it is concerning that very little talk has been centered on the practicalities of the comprehensive phase out of fossil fuels, as they are by far the main source of emissions, and the main contributor to global warming and climate change. Although we have not managed to do so yet, we cannot keep delaying the inevitable phase out of fossil fuels.

Climate Action for Associations (CAFA) are attending COP30 as official NGO Observer. This year we are attending in a virtual capacity, 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.

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