The Conference of the Parties (COP) is a key annual meeting organized under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with the aim of addressing climate change and implementing strategies to meet global climate goals.
COP30 carried enormous symbolic and political weight. It was named by many as the “implementation COP”, referring to the chance to turn the promises of the Paris Agreement and 2023’s Global Stocktake into real action.
COP30 in Belém
The 30th session of the Conference of the Parties took place in Belém, the capital of the state of Pará (Brazil) in November 2025.
The location of the conference at the gateway to the Amazon rainforest was particularly symbolic. It represented the choice to spotlight the importance of the world’s largest rainforest and the challenges it faces. Moreover, it was intended to connect global climate negotiations with local realities, human development, and social justice issues.
Regarding the attendance to the COP, more than 56,000 delegates attended COP30 in person, provisionally placing the summit as one of the largest in COP history. The largest delegation came from Brazil, with 3,805 people registered, followed by China, Nigeria, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Despite the high attendance, the US abstained for the first time in the history of COP climate summit, continuing on the path chosen by the US president Trump since the beginning of his second mandate. In fact, back in January 2025, Trump signed a letter to the UN to trigger the start of a US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement for a second time.
The void left by the US was not completely filled by China, as it was expected at the beginning of the conference, however it emerged clearly that the Asian country is leading as a clean energy superpower.
Key issues
Several pressing climate issues were discussed at COP30, with climate finance, the Paris agreement and fossil fuels amongst the main ones.
- Triple finance for climate adaptation
Building resilience to climate impacts took center stage at COP30, where developing countries called for much more support for adaptation.
The conference ended with an agreement calling for a tripling of adaptation and mobilisation funding to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 for climate action. This funding is aimed for developing nations to protect their people from the growing impacts of the climate crisis, and for stepping up support for workers and communities in the transition to clean energy, while proposing practical solutions to increase finance for the low-carbon transition.
During the conference, the COP29 and COP30 presidencies presented the Baku to Belem Roadmap to 1.3T, laying out key actions that governments, financial institutions and other actors can take to finance climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. This step is an important change in the approach to finance since it recognises the importance of all actors playing their part and the value of finance, towards a better working system.
2. Paris agreement and NDCs
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015 by 195 Parties at COP21.
At the heart of the agreement and the achievement of its long-term goals are the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) which embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Over the past decade, the Paris Agreement has delivered meaningful progress: before the agreement, the world was on track to reach 4 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century. Ten years after the agreement’s adoption, the latest NDCs and current policies bring us closer to a 2.3-2.8 degrees Celsius trajectory
By the end of COP30, 119 countries, representing 74% of global emissions, had submitted new national commitments in NDCs. These commitments showed some progress on reducing emissions and mobilising sectoral action. Still, they collectively deliver less than 15% of the emissions reductions required by 2035 to hold global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
A key task for negotiators at COP30 was finalising how the Paris Agreement’s Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) will be put into action, including establishing indicators to track progress. However, the final set includes some unmeasurable indicators and thematic gaps, creating technical issues to address and the need for further refinement.
It’s uncertain whether countries will be willing to adopt the indicators agreed at COP30 if they might change over the next two years.
3. Fossil fuel and voluntary initiatives
One of the most discussed issues regards fossil fuels, the root cause of the climate crisis. During the conference, more than 80 countries advocated for a global roadmap to guide the transition to sustainable alternatives, but the major petrostates opposed it, hindering its adoption.
Nevertheless, the Brazilian Presidency intends to proceed with roadmaps on fossil fuels and deforestation outside the formal COP talks.
In addition, new voluntary initiatives were launched: the Global Implementation Accelerator and the “Belem Mission to 1.5”. These initiatives aim to enhance and speed the implementation of countries’ NDCs and national adaptation plans (NAPs) and keep 1.5 degrees C within reach. However, neither of these voluntary initiatives directly mention fossil fuels, disappointing countries seeking clearer direction.
Outside the formal negotiations, the summit saw a raft of new pledges and action plans from cities, states, countries and the private sector. One outcome is the UNEZA Alliance, in which public utility companies pledged $66 billion annually for renewable energy and $82 billion for transmission and storage.
4. Social dimension of COP30
A key outcome of COP30 was renewed attention to the social dimension of climate action.
During this COP, Indigenous Peoples and other local communities were recognized like never before, especially after they staged blockades demanding stronger protections for the Amazon. The main initiative towards indigenous people was the launch of Brazil’s Tropical Forests Forever Facility, which now includes 53 participating countries and has raised $6.7 billion, a start toward the initial target of $25 billion. This initiative aims to provide long-term, predictable finance to countries that protect their tropical forests, with at least 20 per cent of resources going directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
During the conference, the Forest and Land Tenure pledge was renewed and ocean conservation advanced.
Another step forward was the development of a new Gender Action Plan, that sets the stage for gender-responsive climate policy. Jobs and economic opportunity were also prominent themes, with a clear takeaway that embracing the low-carbon transition can deliver growth, investment, security, competitiveness and good-paying jobs.
Health also featured prominently, with the World Health Organisation launching theBelém Health Action Plan. This is the first global initiative targeting climate-related health threats, launched with $300 million from 35 philanthropic organisations. It cites 60 actions necessary to both adapt to climate change and address climate-related health risks affecting 3.3 billion people.
Finally, for the first time, the decision recognises the need to tackle climate disinformation, committing to uphold information integrity and oppose narratives that weaken science-based action.
Looking ahead
While COP30 may not have made as much progress as hoped for, and the outcome leaves a lot to be desired for many countries, it has shown that multilateralism can still deliver results and progress, despite deepening divides on climate action and the absence of the United States.
Looking ahead to next year, the Global Implementation Accelerator will hold open information sessions in June and November before delivering a report and high-level meeting at COP31 in November 2026.
The Belém Mission to 1.5 will follow a similar timeline and likewise report its conclusions at COP31.
In parallel, the COP30 Presidency’s roadmap development will be informed by external consultations, including an April meeting on transitioning away from fossil fuels, co-hosted by the Colombian and Dutch governments.