COP30 kicks off, calls to urgently deliver on climate promises, boost finance
By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – Government, diplomats and climate experts on Sunday headed to Belém, in Brazil’s Amazon for COP30 latest round of UN climate talks.
The task couldn’t be clearer: turn promises into action and agree on tougher plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The experts said that after decades of pledges and annual summits from Kyoto to Sharm el-Sheikh, the planet keeps getting hotter and pressure on governments and big business to act not just talk has never been greater.
The COP30 summit in Belém, at the edge of the world’s largest tropical rainforest, underscored the stakes: the Amazon region is both a vital carbon sink and a frontline in the fight against deforestation and climate change.
The meeting aims to shift gears. Delegates will review national climate plans, push for $1.3 trillion a year in climate finance, adopt new measures to help countries adapt, and advance a ‘just transition’ to cleaner economies.
COP30 has been billed as a turning point a moment of truth and a test of global solidarity.
The summit opens on Monday in Belém against a backdrop: scientists said the planet is on course to temporarily breach the 1.5°C warming limit set by the Paris Agreement.
The experts warned only if countries act fast to ramp up efforts on cutting emissions, adapting to climate impacts, and mobilizing finance.
UN head Antonio Guterres was blunt: “It’s no longer time for negotiations. It’s time for implementation, implementation and implementation.”
Under Brazil’s presidency, COP30 will revolve around an action agenda of 30 key goals, each driven by an ‘activation group’ tasked with scaling up solutions.
The effort has been dubbed a mutirão an Indigenous word meaning “collective task” reflected Brazil’s push to spotlight Indigenous leadership and participation at the conference and in the global fight against climate change.
The government said it wants all sectors from Indigenous communities to business leaders to help deliver on past climate promises.
Action agendas at COPs are built on voluntary pledges rather than binding law.
The scale of change needed is enormous: at least $1.3 trillion in climate investments every year by 2035.
Scientists warned global temperatures could climb between 2.3°C and 2.8°C by the end of the century, leaving vast regions uninhabitable through flooding, extreme heat and ecosystem collapse without urgent action.
Baku-to-Belém Roadmap Report for $1.3 Trillion, prepared by the COP29 and COP30 presidencies will be discussed.
It sets out 5 priorities for mobilizing resources, including boosting six multilateral climate funds, strengthening cooperation on taxing polluting activities, and converting sovereign debt into climate investment – a move that could unlock up to $100 billion for developing countries.
The report called for dismantling barriers such as investment treaty clauses that let corporations sue governments over climate policies. Those disputes have already cost governments $83 billion across 349 cases.
The key focus in Belém is the latest round of Nationally Determined Contributions national climate plans that spell out how countries intend to cut emissions.
The global emissions must fall by 60% by 2030 to keep warming below 1.5°C. The current NDCs would deliver only a 10%.
Out of the 196 Parties to the Paris Agreement, 64 had submitted updated NDCs by the end of September.
The preparatory talks in Germany in June, many countries warned that this ambition gap must be closed at COP30.
Delegates are expected to approve 100 global indicators to track progress on climate adaptation, making results measurable and comparable across nations.
Some 172 countries have at least one adaptation policy or plan, though 36 are outdated.
The new indicators should help shape more transparent and effective policies.
The planet heating faster than ever, adaptation is now a central pillar of climate action.
UNEP warned adaptation finance must rise twelvefold by 2035 to meet developing countries’ needs.
COP30 will push forward the Just Transition Work Programme aimed to ensure climate measures don’t deepen inequality.
Civil society groups have called for a “Belém Action Mechanism” to coordinate just transition efforts and expand access to technology and finance for the most vulnerable nations.
The Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or COP remains the world’s leading forum for tackling the climate crisis.
The decisions are made by consensus, driving cooperation on mitigation, adaptation and finance.
COPs have delivered landmark deals over the years.
Paris Agreement set the goal of keeping global temperature rise “well below 2°C” while striving for 1.5°C at COP28 in Dubai.
The countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels “in a just, orderly and equitable manner” and to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.
In Baku, COP29 raised the annual climate finance target for developing nations from $100 billion to $300 billion, with a roadmap to scale up to $1.3 trillion.
The legal framework built over three decades under the UNFCCC has helped avert a projected 4°C temperature rise by the end of this century.
COP30 opens Monday, 10 November, and runs through Friday, 21 November.
