Climate Conference – No time for further negotiation and action must be intensified: What are the pressing issues and what is expected from it?

The conference focuses on putting previous commitments into practice, increasing financing for climate action to $1.3 trillion annually, reviewing national climate plans, adopting climate change adaptation indicators, and advancing the just transition agenda.

“No more negotiations, it is time for implementation.”

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, described as a turning point, a moment of truth and a test of solidarity, brings together world leaders and negotiators amid growing evidence that the planet is on the verge of exceeding the maximum temperature rise set in Paris Agreement The climate is 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels.

Scientists say this overshoot could be short-lived — if countries act decisively to accelerate climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and finance climate action.

In his speech at the Leaders’ Summit that preceded the conference, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said “There is no longer time for negotiations. It is time to implement, implement, implement.”

Under Brazil’s presidency, the climate conference is structured around an action agenda that includes 30 key goals, each managed by an “activation group” tasked with identifying and scaling up effective solutions.

This collective effort was called “mutirão” – an indigenous word meaning “collective task” – reflecting Brazil’s insistence on highlighting indigenous leadership and participation throughout the conference.

How can sufficient funds be raised?

Action agendas at UN climate conferences are based on voluntary pledges, and achieving the necessary scale of climate transition requires at least $1.3 trillion in climate investments annually by 2035.

Without urgent action, scientists expect global temperatures to rise by between 2.3 and 2.8 degrees Celsius by 2100, making vast areas uninhabitable due to flooding, extreme heat and the collapse of ecosystems.

The “Baku to Belem Roadmap Report”, prepared by the Presidencies of the 29th COP20 in Baku and 30th in Brazil, will be the focus of discussions in Belem. The report identifies five priority areas for mobilizing the necessary resources.

Among the proposals:

• Strengthen the six multilateral climate funds established over the past decades,
• Strengthening international cooperation in taxing highly polluting activities,
• Converting sovereign debt into climate investments, which could make up to $100 billion available to developing countries.

The report also calls for removing barriers, such as provisions in investment treaties that allow companies to sue governments for adopting climate policies that may affect business interests. According to the report, governments have already lost US$83 billion in 349 such conflicts.

What is important about COP30?

◀️A major focus of Belém is the latest round of Nationally Determined Contributions, which are national climate plans that determine how each country intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

To keep global warming below 1.5°C, emissions must be reduced by 60% by 2030. However, current contributions will only achieve a 10% reduction.

◀️Delegates in Belém are also expected to agree on 100 global indicators to monitor progress on climate adaptation, ensuring measurable and comparable results across countries. The data generated by the new indicators are expected to contribute to the formulation of more transparent and effective public policies.

◀️With the planet warming faster than ever before, adaptation to climate change has become a key pillar of climate action. The United Nations Environment Program stresses the need to increase adaptation funding 12-fold by 2035 to meet the needs of developing countries.

◀️The climate conference will also seek to strengthen the Just Climate Transition Action Agenda, designed to ensure that measures to address the climate crisis do not deepen social inequalities.

◀️Civil society organizations call for the establishment of a “Belem Action Mechanism” to coordinate the implementation of climate-related just transition efforts and expand access to technology and financial resources for the most vulnerable countries.

Why are conferences of the parties important?

◀️The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – known by its acronym COP – remains the world’s most prominent multilateral forum for confronting the climate crisis.

◀️Decisions are made unanimously, which enhances global cooperation in vital areas such as climate change mitigation, adaptation, and financing.

◀️Over the years, these conferences have achieved outstanding results. In 2015, the Paris Agreement set a collective goal of keeping global temperature rise “well below 2°C” while continuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

◀️At the 28th conference in Dubai, countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels “in a fair, orderly and equitable manner” and triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.

◀️Last ​​year, at COP 29 in Baku, States Parties set a new collective quantitative target on climate finance, raising the annual financing target for developing countries from $100 billion to $300 billion, with the aim of increasing this target to $1.3 trillion.