Taking place in Belém, Brazil – enveloped by the moist and humid air of the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest green lung – this year’s COP had a distinctly different character from the three preceding COPs.  

Hosted in the country that birthed the Rio Conventions, there was new energy both inside and outside the negotiating halls. For the first time in four years, massive civil society marches dominated headlines, demanding heightened ambition for fossil fuel phase-out, forest protection, Indigenous People’s rights and money for the most climate-affected communities to strengthen their resilience. And even with heavy presence of fossil fuel lobbyists, the participation of 900 Indigenous Peoples in the Blue Zone and the launch of the Global Ethical Stocktake “underscored the inseparable link between climate justice, dignity, and intergenerational solidarity”.  

While progress is once again slow and uneven, we must remember that “COP is doing exactly what it was built to do”, and the results are something we must embrace and amplify with all the vigour we can muster. COP30’s Mutirão text stresses the need to ‘mobilise humanity’ to address the collective global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Of vital importance, the text re-emphasises the importance of the world’s meeting the 1.5C temperature goal with no or minimal overshoot, to vastly limit the impacts and risks of climate change.  

Of course, in the detail of the decisions, there are many imperfections. In particular, CDKN notes with concern the omission of fossil fuel phase-out and forest protection roadmaps from the formal package. 

We are also disappointed with the reduced package of adaptation indicators adopted to measure progress on the Global Goal on Adaptation. This was a last-minute compromise on content. It leaves massive technical work still to be done until a more complete and workable indicator set can be considered at COP32 in Ethiopia in two years’ time.  

For developing countries seeking the urgently-needed, grant-based finance they need to plan and undertake adaptation, developed countries conceded a new goal to triple adaptation finance provision from 2025 levels by 2035. However, this really needs a five-year timeline not ten years, and reassurances on the quality of finance are missing. Developing countries need more grants, not more indebtedness – the value of these adaptation finance commitments will be in how they are delivered.  

Nevertheless, there are plenty of positives to take from COP30. At CDKN, we celebrate in particular the adoption of the new Gender Action Plan under the Paris Agreement, which has locked in priorities to address the specific climate vulnerabilities of women and tailor capacity building and financing to their needs. 

We also acknowledge that the conference spotlighted the many willing and ambitious national governments, non-state and local actors who are hungry for ambitious, sustainable climate action, especially at the local level. Many of these are CDKN partners, who contributed to a range of sessions that highlighted how evidence, equity, and collaboration can drive global progress on adaptation, resilience and inclusion. 

While the COP process is an imperfect one, we recognise its important place in shaping the future of global climate action. That being said, real change happens at the local level. CDKN will continue working with the communities, governments and organisations advancing local-level adaptation our three strategic areas: Gender Equity and Social Inclusion, Ecosystem-based Adaptation, and Finance for Resilience. We will unite with them, as ever, in championing and spearheading that change toward a more resilient future.