COP30

COP30 was the 30th Conference of the Parties for climate change, held from 10 to 22 November 2025 in Belém, Brazil, marking the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement.

Conference of the Parties

The Conferences of the Parties (COP) for climate change started in 1995. They are annual international meetings that aim for a joint effort to fight climate change. The participants are mainly the member countries of the UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, though other stakeholders take part as observers.

The main focus of the COP meetings has been reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other recurring topics include adapting to climate change and funding for global collaboration.

One of the most significant COP meetings was COP21, held in Paris in 2015. Its outcome was the world's most significant climate agreement: the Paris Agreement. Nearly every UN member (193 of 195 countries) agreed to work together to reduce emissions, with a goal of keeping global warming well below 2°C, and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

What happened at COP30

COP30 produced a package of mostly voluntary commitments rather than new binding targets. Countries agreed to work towards tripling adaptation finance by 2035, building on an earlier commitment to double it by 2025. Adaptation finance needs are estimated at $310 billion a year through 2035, far above the $26 billion developed countries actually provided in 2023.

Despite pressure from 82 countries, a formal roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels was left out of the final agreement. Instead, Brazil's COP presidency announced that separate voluntary roadmaps would be developed ahead of COP31, following a preparatory conference hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands.

COP30 also launched a two-year work programme on climate finance and a new mechanism to support a "just transition" for workers and communities affected by the shift away from fossil fuels.

Source: Carbon Brief