COP30 the Good, the Bad, the Ugly
The COP 30 meeting just ended. COP is the Conference of Parties and is an annual meeting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to figure out what to do. It was held this year in Belem, Brazil in mid-November 2025.
As expected, less done than we would hope. In part that may be because it is flooded with lobbyists, from the fossil fuel and agricultural industries, with one estimate being one in 25 attendees were fossil fuel lobbyists , and many did not disclose their affiliations by not listing any, just marking “guest” or “other”; from sustainability magazine:
“Transparency International's analysis found that 54% of participants in national delegations either did not disclose the type of affiliation they have or selected a vague category such as "Guest" or "Other".
“Several national delegations, including those from Russia, Tanzania, South Africa and Mexico, did not disclose the affiliation of any of their delegates holding a Party badge.”
Also, the United States is of course not represented officially as the current administration and Congress are filled with climate and science deniers (the president has called it a “hoax”) and are deep in the pockets of fossil fuel companies. Yet per capita, the US is the major source of greenhouse gases, even more so now with the increase of “natural gas” (methane a powerful greenhouse gas!) that we ship around the world (requiring pipelines and huge infrastructure investment with environmental impacts on vulnerable areas (for example a proposed project in the Gulf of California, a World Heritage Site and biodiversity hotspot), and an immense carbon footprint.
That doesn’t mean nothing was accomplished!
Here is a summary from the Carbon Brief website with links to more in depth coverage:
“A voluntary plan to curb fossil fuels, a goal to triple adaptation finance and new efforts to “strengthen” climate targets have been launched at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
“After all-night negotiations in the Amazonian city of Belém, the Brazilian presidency released a final package termed the “global mutirão” – a name meaning “collective efforts”.
“It was an attempt to draw together controversial issues that had divided the fortnight of talks, including finance, trade policies and meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature goal.
“A “mechanism” to help ensure a “just transition” globally and a set of measures to track climate-adaptation efforts were also among COP30’s notable outcomes.
“Scores of nations that had backed plans to “transition away” from fossil fuels and “reverse deforestation” instead accepted COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago’s compromise proposal of “roadmaps” outside the formal UN regime.
“Billed as a COP of “truth” and “implementation”, the event – which took place 10 years on from the Paris Agreement – was seen as a moment to showcase international cooperation.
“Yet, the lack of consensus on key issues and rising salience of “unilateral trade measures” and financial shortfalls revealed deep divisions.
“The event itself also faced numerous logistical challenges, including a lengthy delay to negotiations when a fire broke out, forcing thousands of attendees to evacuate.
“Here, Carbon Brief provides in-depth analysis of all the key outcomes in Belém – both inside and outside the COP.
Here is another useful summary from the climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe that she posted on Linked in with some great links [her bold for emphasis]:
“This year marked a decade since the signing of the Paris Agreement and, despite the frustratingly slow pace of the COP meetings, significant progress has been made. As I shared two weeks ago, global emissions used to be tracking a scenario where warming would reach 4-5C (7-9F) by the end of the century. But thanks to all the policies enacted and advances in clean energy over the last decade, we’re currently heading towards a world that’s 2.8C (5F) warmer. And if all of the countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions are implemented, the warming will be around 2.4C (4.3F). For more on where things stand post Paris, see these ten graphs…” [this link is to a well-illustrated New York Times article]
“In the host country of Brazil, for example, cattle ranching drives much of the illegal deforestation. So it was a major step forward when the governor of the state of Pará, where Belém is located, committed to tagging all 20 million cattle in the region to track deforestation. This is a huge project that The Nature Conservancy has championed for years: creating a digital paper trail to ensure no deforestation is linked to beef production…
“The launch of the Tropical Forest Forever (TFF) fund brought more good news for nature. Backed by $5.5 billion in initial commitments, it aims to curb deforestation by rewarding countries that keep their forests intact. The Guardian’s Jonathan Watts called it “the biggest and boldest plan yet to staunch the loss of tropical forests that are a pillar of climate stability.” Brazil and Germany each have pledged $1 billion, with Norway promising $3 billion…
“Other countries' potluck contribution focused on clean energy. For example, South Korea operates the world’s seventh-largest fleet of coal plants. At COP30, it committed to closing all 40 plants by 2040 and build no new unabated plants. This makes South Korea the second Asian nation, after Singapore, to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance, launched in 2017 at COP23 in Germany.
“Finally and most importantly, Colombia and the Netherlands announced the first International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, to be held in Colombia in April 2026.”
Under not so good news, Dr. Hayhoe lists:
“Much of the last-minute negotiations hinged upon whether the final agreement included a pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels.” 83 countries, including the host country Brazil, pushed to have this statement included in the final agreement. They were supported by a letter organized by the We Mean Business coalition signed by over 150 other non-profits, regional and city governments, and companies, and strongly opposed by a coalition of oil-producing states led by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“COP agreements require consensus. As this helpful Carbon Brief article explains, this is a relic of the fact that countries never agreed on a decision-making process for COP when the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed back in 1992…
“Ultimately, however, that wording didn’t make it into the final deal. Instead, the COP30 president promised that “the issue of stronger language on moving away from fossil fuels can be raised again in six months’ time at an interim COP meeting.” Here’s why this matters so much: because there is no path to meeting the Paris targets without almost entirely phasing out fossil fuels…”
It has become clear that COP meetings are always flawed with much left undone, much obscured, and many empty promises (or in the case of the United States, no promises at all until we vote out the current science denying corrupt and greedy leaders), but that doesn’t mean nothing is moving forward, and not only in China!
Let’s keep our eye on the ball and not give up. Midterms in the United States are just around the corner!