What Happened At Cop30 4 Science Take Homes From The Climate Summit

COP30 left many countries disappointed because no new road maps were created to help nations transition away from fossil fuels.Credit: Wagner Meier/Getty Ten years after the Paris agreement was adopted, world leaders left the United Nations COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, with an outcome that kept the process alive but does little to stave off... Many scientists walked away dismayed and disappointed. Despite years of commitments and research that have laid the groundwork for action, the climate summit achieved “essentially nothing”, says Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. But, there were some signs of hope that multilateralism can tackle climate change. Over the course of two weeks, representatives from nearly 200 governments worked through hot days, long nights, a fire in the venue and numerous protests — including by Indigenous groups and others fighting for...

Heatwaves linked to emissions of individual fossil-fuel and cement producers In three decades of these meetings aimed at forging global consensus on how to prevent and deal with global warming, this will go down as among the most divisive. Many countries were livid when COP30 in Belém, Brazil ended on Saturday with no mention of the fossil fuels that have heated up the atmosphere. Other nations - particularly those with most to gain from their continued production - felt vindicated. The summit was a reality check on just how much global consensus has broken down over what to do about climate change. Here are five key takeaways from what some have called the "COP of truth".

The most important thing to come out of COP30 is that the climate 'ship' is still afloat Will the Mayfield Review create pathways to work for disabled people? Nearly 60,000 delegates travelled to the heart of the Amazon. They came hoping that this COP would pivot from negotiation design to real-world implementation. COP30 in Belém was billed as the “COP of Truth”. It took place during a year marked by record heat, widespread climate disasters, and a growing sense of global instability.

With the United States withdrawing again from the Paris Agreement and geopolitical tensions rising, expectations for the summit were layered with uncertainty. Belém saw progress on climate finance, adaptation, and the just transition. It also exposed the widening gap between what the climate crisis demands and what governments are prepared to agree. But above all, it revealed a stark reality, after 30 COPs, the world still cannot agree on a collective plan to phase out the fossil fuels that are driving the crisis. For many, COP30 was expected to be the moment when countries finally confronted the central driver of the climate crisis. More than eighty nations agreed in Belém on a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels.

The hosts had championed the idea in the run-up to the summit, and support grew quickly among Latin American states, Europe, and many vulnerable nations. Even major fossil fuel exporters such as Norway signalled openness to the discussion. By the end of the first week, that early momentum had collided with political reality. Major oil producers and several emerging economies made clear that any reference to a fossil fuel roadmap was unacceptable. Delegations spent nights in huddles trying to find compromise language, but every formulation that hinted at a structured transition away from coal, oil and gas was rejected. As the hours passed, all mention of fossil fuels was gradually stripped from the negotiating text.

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. Joseph Lewis is Head of Policy at the Institution of Environmental Sciences, working to promote the use of the environmental sciences in decision making.

Joseph leads the delivery of the IES Policy Programme, standing up for the voice of science, scientists, and the natural world in policy. Joseph has more than ten years of experience in public policy, including in Parliament and the charity sector. He is particularly passionate about science communication and the role it can play in shaping environmental decisions. COP30 should have been another critical step towards global cooperation to tackle climate change. Ultimately, the final outcome decision failed to make sufficient progress towards that objective, with no mention of phasing out fossil fuels and limited new commitments to collective action. Some progress took place and multilateralism remains important.

In the context of shifting politics, COP30 also had the opportunity to keep the world agreed on tackling climate change, avoiding regression on existing commitments. That goal was somewhat met, as although the outcome of negotiations did not sufficiently increase global aspirations, it also did not lead to regression in practice. The 30th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 30) brought the world to Belém, Brazil, for a negotiating round surrounded by rising climate impacts and growing expectations. After two weeks of talks, countries adopted a bundle of decisions now referred to as the Belém Political Package. Here are five key outcomes of COP 30: Adaptation finance is the funding that helps countries cope with climate impacts already unfolding, such as building flood-resilient roads, improving water storage during droughts or expanding early warning systems.

At COP 30, countries indicated that adaptation finance should increase threefold by 2035. While this is not yet a binding commitment, it is a major political signal. Current funding falls far short of what vulnerable countries need, and impacts are escalating quickly. A clear expectation to scale up resources over the next decade gives international institutions and national governments a direction of travel, even as the details on contributions still need to be negotiated. Countries’ Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) while providing progress if implemented are falling short to reach the mitigation necessary to avoid 1.5°C. In an effort to bridge the gap between current climate targets and the 1.5°C goal, the Baku-Belém Political Package establishes two initiatives designed to support nations in strengthening and achieving their commitments.

The "Belém Mission to 1.5" aims to encourage higher ambition in national climate plans (NDCs) by fostering dialogue on the necessary international cooperation and investment. This is complemented by the "Global Implementation Accelerator," a voluntary and cooperative platform intended to assist countries in moving from planning to action, facilitating the practical delivery of mitigation and adaptation measures needed to... One of the summit’s most consequential outcomes was the creation of a just transition mechanism. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), just transition refers to the idea that climate action should not leave anyone behind, particularly communities and workers whose livelihoods depend on fossil fuels or carbon-intensive... It also means giving developing countries the support they need to grow their economies in cleaner, more resilient ways. The new Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) will serve as a platform to coordinate assistance, share best practices, mobilize resources and track progress.

Its establishment means that fairness in the global shift toward sustainable economies is no longer only a political slogan but now has a formal home within the UN climate system. For years, Parties have been trying to define how to measure global progress on adaptation, which is a difficult task considering climate resilience looks different from place to place. COP 30 finally produced an agreed set of indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA). These will help evaluate improvements in areas such as water security, food systems, infrastructure resilience, the reach of early warning systems and access to adaptation finance. Negotiations were difficult, and many governments stressed that the indicators will need further refinement, leaving significant work for coming COPs. Still, having a first version in place gives countries a common framework to assess whether adaptation efforts are on track.

The 2025 UN climate talks wrapped on Saturday, Nov. 22 after negotiations pushed into overtime. The resulting decision secured some important wins, both inside and outside the negotiations. But it omitted some of the big-ticket items many hoped to see. With efforts to halt temperature rise severely off track and climate disasters becoming ever-more destructive, the summit (COP30) aimed to establish clear pathways to deliver past pledges and put the world on a safer... A key question was how countries would address lagging ambition in their new climate commitments (NDCs).

Hopes that countries would commit to roadmaps to end fossil fuel use and halt deforestation were ultimately dashed after opposition from petrostates. The final decision only included new voluntary initiatives to accelerate national climate action, though the Brazilian Presidency intends to move forward with fossil fuel and deforestation roadmaps outside of the formal COP talks. Building resilience to climate impacts took center stage, with COP30 securing a new target to triple finance for climate adaptation. The COP also laid out practical solutions to increase finance for the low-carbon transition. In an era of trade wars and tariffs, negotiators also agreed for the first time to hold discussions on how trade policies can help — or hinder — climate action. Against the backdrop of the Amazon, nature also saw advances, including a new fund for tropical forest conservation.

Indigenous Peoples and other local communities were recognized like never before. And outside the formal negotiations, the summit saw a raft of new pledges and action plans from cities, states, countries and the private sector. It is clear that we are moving from negotiations to implementation, and from wrangling over what to do to how to do it. These victories matter. It shows that international cooperation can still deliver, despite deepening divides on climate action and a difficult geopolitical context. After two weeks of heavy negotiations, this year’s UN climate talks or COP30, wrapped up yesterday.

Set in Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon, with Indigenous leaders and civil society front and centre, this Summit was a chance to turn years of promises into real action. And did that happen? Yes and no. COP30 was meant to be a “COP of Implementation” the moment governments would finally move from promises to action. And we arrived in Belém with three big fights on the table: While negotiators argued behind closed doors, a different — and much stronger — force was rising outside the rooms.

After three COPs in petro-states where civil society was pushed to the margins, COP30 felt like a breath of fresh air. This Summit unfolded in the Amazon — one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, protected and defended by Indigenous Peoples long before the UN ever existed. And for the first time in years, people could rally openly for real climate action. Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, youth, activists, and everyday people came together and showed what genuine climate leadership looks like. Their voices spilled from the streets into the halls of COP30, raising the pressure on world leaders to deliver real progress. This weekend is the halfway point for the 30th U.N.

climate summit known as COP30. In a report issued days before the meeting began, the World Meteorological Organization said 2025 is “on track to be among the three warmest years on record.” New York Times international climate reporter Somini... Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. This weekend is the halfway point for the 30th annual U.N. Climate Summit, known as COP30.

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