COP30 in Belém marks ten years since the Paris Agreement, bringing nations together to tackle adaptation, finance, and justice in the global climate transition.
A new decade of climate action at COP30 in Belém
The COP30 in Belém, Brazil, opens today, November 10, as the world’s most important summit on climate change. Over two weeks of negotiations, delegates will discuss the best ways to track progress on adaptation and pursue a fair and just global transition. Central topics include new national climate targets and the goal to raise international climate finance to $1.3 trillion per year from both public and private sources by 2035. This conference also marks a symbolic milestone: ten years since the Paris Agreement.
What COP stands for
COP30 in Belém is the 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, formally known as the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). “COP” stands for Conference of the Parties, referring to the nearly 200 countries that signed the original 1992 UN climate agreement.
When COP30 in Belém takes place
The official dates for COP30 are Monday, November 10, to Friday, November 21. World leaders already gathered before the opening, on Thursday 6 and Friday 7. This year’s edition may see the lowest number of heads of state attending since 2019.
The host city: Belém at the edge of the Amazon
This year’s conference takes place in Belém, at the gateway to the Amazon rainforest. The choice of venue has posed challenges, especially for lower-income nations, due to high accommodation costs. The host country is chosen through a candidacy process by the participating regions.
Brazil’s selection was controversial. While preparing to host COP30, the Brazilian government simultaneously pushed for new oil exploration licenses at the mouth of the Amazon River. This domestic agenda clashes with its ambition to present itself as a global climate leader.
On October 20, just days before the summit, Brazil’s environmental agency granted Petrobras, the state-owned oil company, a license to drill at the river’s mouth, a decision with serious implications for the climate, local water resources, and ecosystems. Oil extraction would endanger Indigenous and traditional communities, including the Karipuna, Palikur-Arukwayene, Galibi Marworno, and Galibi Kali’na peoples, as highlighted by Amnesty International.
Key objectives of COP30 in Belém
The Paris Agreement requires countries to submit increasingly ambitious climate plans every five years, under the so-called ratchet-up mechanism. Governments must specify the emission reductions they aim to achieve, with each new plan exceeding the previous one to help keep global warming below 1.5 °C by the end of the century.
The year 2025 marks the deadline for a new cycle of these climate plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). If the new NDCs fall short, the summit must define a post-COP30 collective process to address remaining global gaps and ensure the ratchet-up mechanism remains fully operational.
COP30 will also focus heavily on adaptation. Every country is expected to develop National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), yet implementation remains limited. Many nations still lack sufficient funding to deliver on their adaptation priorities. Belém’s summit aims to shift from planning to execution.
A central point of the agenda is the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), which seeks to provide countries with a clearer framework for planning, implementation, and accountability. Parties are working to define indicators and guidelines to assess adaptation capacity, resilience, and vulnerability reduction.
Adaptation resources
At COP29, nations agreed to mobilize $1.3 trillion per year in climate finance by 2035 from public and private sources, including contributions from developing economies. Although this new collective quantified goal (NCQG) has been defined, it has not yet been integrated into the Paris Agreement’s implementation framework. The funds provided by wealthier countries currently fall far short of the estimated $1.3 trillion needed.
Developed economies also pledged at COP29 to raise at least $300 billion per year by 2035 for mitigation and adaptation. Yet, according to a UNEP report, that figure is still insufficient to meet the adaptation needs of the world’s most vulnerable regions.
Climate adaptation indicators
At COP28 two years ago, countries adopted a preliminary framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation. After two years of negotiations, COP30 is expected to finalize a set of 100 measurable indicators to monitor global progress. These indicators must be specific yet flexible enough to apply across diverse national adaptation practices.
Climate finance and the Baku-Belém Roadmap
Although climate finance is not the main agenda item at Belém, the launch of the Baku-Belém Roadmap offers a new opportunity for reflection and collaboration.
On November 6, the COP29 Presidency (Azerbaijan) and COP30 Presidency (Brazil) jointly unveiled the roadmap, aiming to mobilize at least $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance for low-income countries by 2035. This framework seeks to improve access to climate funds and strengthen results in key areas such as adaptation, loss and damage, clean energy, nature, food systems, and fair transitions.
Looking toward 2035, the roadmap identifies five priority areas supported by targeted actions:
- channeling grants, concessional finance, and low-cost capital;
- balancing resource availability and debt sustainability;
- redirecting transformative private finance and affordable funding;
- improving large-scale capacity and coordination;
- reforming systems and structures to ensure equitable capital flows.
Where global warming stands
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva described COP30 as the “COP of truth.” The urgency is clear: a recent UN report warns that global carbon emissions are now too high to prevent dangerous warming by century’s end.
Despite global commitments, the world remains off track to limit warming to 1.5 °C, the Paris Agreement’s key goal. Given the required emission cuts, the limited time left, and today’s geopolitical context, the threshold is likely to be exceeded within the next decade.
Current projections point to a rise of 2.3–2.5 °C, according to UNEP, assuming all current pledges are met. Without further action, temperatures could climb even higher. The UN notes that the world’s warming trajectory has improved by only 0.3 °C since COP29 in Baku. The United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement could add another fraction of a degree. Each fraction avoided, however, represents fewer losses for people and ecosystems, lower costs, and less reliance on carbon removal technologies.
What NGOs expect from COP30 in Belém
Organizations such as Greenpeace have strongly rejected carbon offsetting, carbon capture and storage, and so-called “net-zero loopholes.” These, they argue, allow polluters to delay real emission cuts. The only path to staying below 1.5 °C is to rapidly and drastically reduce fossil fuel use, end deforestation, and protect ecosystems, Greenpeace emphasizes.
COP30 in Belém and the just transition
The COP30 Presidency has identified two other priority areas: a work program on a just transition and a dialogue on implementing the first global stocktake results. The first concerns how countries can best support workers and communities affected by the shift to a low-carbon economy.
The dialogue builds on COP28 outcomes, such as tripling global renewable capacity and phasing down fossil fuels. Yet, significant divides persist. Low-income nations want support not only for fossil fuel workers but also for local communities and vulnerable social groups. Developed economies, on the other hand, tend to focus primarily on employment impacts.
The China factor
China’s climate goals remain modest. Combined with the U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement, this could hinder progress in slowing global temperature rise, said John Podesta in Politico. It is no coincidence that Washington is not sending a delegation to COP30.
In 2014, Podesta helped broker a joint declaration between then-President Barack Obama and China’s President Xi Jinping, which paved the way for the Paris Agreement. The current lack of ambition from both sides, compounded by the EU’s recent decision to scale back its 2040 emissions targets, raises doubts about COP30’s ability to deliver on its promise of containing global warming.
FAQ
It’s the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC), where over 190 countries meet to discuss emission cuts, adaptation, and global climate finance.
From November 10 to 21, 2025, in Belém, Brazil, at the gateway to the Amazon rainforest.
Updating national climate plans (NDCs), boosting adaptation, and securing $1.3 trillion a year in climate finance by 2035.
A plan to mobilize $1.3 trillion annually for low-income nations to fund adaptation, clean energy, and fair transitions.
Because it could redefine global climate policy for the next decade, pushing countries toward stronger commitments and measurable adaptation goals.
It’s a UN framework to help countries plan, implement, and measure progress in adapting to climate change.
The host nation is chosen by participating countries through a candidacy process, rotating among geographic regions under the UN climate framework.
