COP30 Climate Conference: Brazil in Focus – Can Save the World?

COP30 Climate Conference: Brazil in Focus – Can Save the World?

In just a few days the time has come: the UN Climate Change Conference 2025 will open its doors from November 10th to 21st in Belém, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pará. Representatives from 196 UN countries, including numerous scientists, journalists and NGOs, will meet to discuss the increasingly pressing issue of global warming and the consumption of greenhouse gases. This conference is particularly significant because, as COP30, it marks the 30th meeting since the first climate summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, at which the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed. Since then, a lot of water has flowed down the Amazon - and the changes this has caused make climate protection all the more urgent.

Recent reports show that the global average temperature in 2024 was already 1.6 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Therefore, one of the main goals of the conference will be to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius in order to avoid catastrophic consequences for the environment and agriculture. At this point, not only the progress of the last few years will be discussed, but also the support for poor countries that are particularly suffering from the consequences of climate change.

Key discussion topics at COP30

The list of topics that will be addressed during COP30 is long. The main focuses include the protection of the Amazon rainforest, the promotion of ocean biodiversity, issues surrounding fishing, the rights of women and workers and the challenges in the tourism sector. A global climate strike, organized by Fridays for Future, is planned for November 14th and will certainly send a message of urgency.

The current decade is considered crucial for the future of the climate, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stressed that emissions must be cut by half by 2030 in order not to exceed the 1.5 degree limit. Exceeding this limit could result in large areas of land becoming uninhabitable and thus have serious impacts on livelihoods and the environment.

Review of the development of international climate policy

The UN conference in Belém is not the first of its kind. It returns to Brazil, where the first climate summit took place in Rio more than 30 years ago. Since then there have been numerous to less successful conferences. For example, the legal basis for many subsequent conferences, the Kyoto Protocol, was negotiated in 1997, but only committed industrialized countries and not emerging countries. This inequality will also be an issue in Belém when developing countries once again demand more financial support.

The challenges have certainly grown in recent years. Conflicts such as those caused by the Ukraine war or the corona pandemic ensured that climate treasure goals were sometimes pushed into the background. The USA in particular, which has the second largest greenhouse gas emissions in the world, hit the headlines due to President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the climate protection agreement. Despite all this, many cities in the USA show that they remain committed to climate protection and are pursuing measures to reduce emissions.

Regardless of the diverse issues that will come to the table, the question remains whether states will continue to lace up their boots on climate protection after the Paris climate summit in 2015 and the many subsequent conferences. The next eleven days in Belém will show how the global climate protection course will continue.

The next major challenges for the period after COP30 have already been determined. The next climate conference in 2026 will take place either in Australia or Turkey and the course for the future of the planet will also be set there.

For more information on your own preparation for the World Climate Conference, please visit: Watson, daily news and Greenpeace.