International Climate Talks in Brazil Face Stress Without U.S. Participation
The upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP30), set to take place in Belém, Brazil, is poised to bring together global actors with a shared goal of advancing climate targets, with a special focus on forests and health. However, the conference faces significant hurdles in mobilising adequate climate finance, reforming multilateral institutions, and ensuring equitable civil society participation.
Brazil aims to use COP30 to reinforce global cooperation and collective climate action, emphasising the protection of the Amazon as a national and regional priority while fostering cooperation with Latin American and African countries. The expected focus of COP30 is on accelerating a decisive decade of climate implementation, with a strong emphasis on multilateralism, nature (especially forest conservation in the Amazon), and embedding health considerations into climate action.
Strengthening multilateralism as the only viable path to tackle climate change, emphasising trust and global collaboration, is a key priority. Another priority is the importance of nature-based solutions and forest conservation, supported by initiatives like the Tropical Forest Forever Facility to finance forest protection at scale. Integrating health explicitly into climate policies is also promoted, with the Belém Health Action Plan focusing on justice, equity, and vulnerable populations, aiming to make health a core pillar of climate action.
However, challenges associated with COP30 include the climate finance gap, the need to reform multilateral development banks, historically insufficient funding for adaptation, ensuring timely and accessible climate finance, and inclusive governance and social participation. The climate finance gap, with an estimated $1.3 trillion needed annually for mitigation and adaptation, is critical, and the uncertainty caused by the potential U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement threatens to worsen this gap, complicating the funding landscape.
Ensuring timely and accessible climate finance with targeted investments is necessary to support health-sector emissions reduction, infrastructure improvement, and climate responses. This is stressed by PAHO and WHO. Inclusive governance and social participation remain central, with efforts to involve civil society and historically marginalized groups meaningfully in decision-making, reflected in both COP30’s preparatory work and the Belém Health Action Plan's emphasis on social participation.
Other challenges include the historically insufficient funding for adaptation compared to mitigation, making it harder for vulnerable countries to implement needed resilience measures. Ensuring timely and accessible climate finance with targeted investments is necessary to support health-sector emissions reduction, infrastructure improvement, and climate responses, as stressed by PAHO and WHO.
COP30 aims to unite global actors to advance implementation of climate targets with a special focus on forests and health, but faces significant hurdles in mobilising adequate climate finance, reforming multilateral institutions, and ensuring equitable civil society participation. These elements will be decisive for the success of the conference and the following decade of climate action.
Amidst these challenges, there are also opportunities for progress. For instance, the first Global Stocktake ended in Dubai in 2023, and discussions at COP30 will focus on whether loss and damage should be included as a separate topic in future stocktakes, as well as the role of science, particularly the IPCC. International civil society is increasing the pressure with a #FillTheFund campaign, calling for the debate on the fund to be reopened as a separate agenda item at the COP.
In conclusion, COP30 in Brazil is expected to achieve progress in climate negotiations, involve international and Brazilian civil society, and revitalise multilateralism. Climate finance remains the focus of the debate in Belém, with hopes for more concrete results from COP30.
- The upcoming COP30 conference in Belém, Brazil, emphasizes the protection of the Amazon and fosters cooperation, particularly with Latin American and African countries, to advance climate targets, with a special focus on forests and health.
- Integrating health explicitly into climate policies, focusing on justice, equity, and vulnerable populations, is a priority, as demonstrated in the Belém Health Action Plan.
- COP30 faces significant hurdles, including the climate finance gap, the need to reform multilateral development banks, and ensuring equitable civil society participation; timely and accessible climate finance with targeted investments are crucial to achieve these goals.
- Other challenges at COP30 include the historically insufficient funding for adaptation and the increasing pressure from international civil society, which is calling for the debate on climate finance to be reopened as a separate agenda item.
