From 10 to 21 November 2025, Belém, in the state of Pará, Brasil hosted the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), the most significant global forum for dialogue and negotiations on the climate crisis.
As of December 2025, the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) number 198 (197 countries plus the European Union). Adopted in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the UNFCCC represents the main international legal and political framework for addressing climate change through multilateral cooperation. Within this framework, the Conference of the Parties constitutes the most important decision-making body for implementing the Convention, bringing together Parties annually to negotiate, update and strengthen climate commitments.

The decisions adopted at COP30 will shape climate action in the coming years, determining whether global climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement remain within reach. Indeed, in the absence of adequate measures global warming could rise to as much as 5°C by the end of the century, with irreversible consequences for the planet.

From the opening of the Conference, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, speaking separately, delivered a clear and unified message: the world is watching institutional decisions, and compromise can no longer be delayed. Both emphasized the need to follow the science, combat climate denial, and take concrete action that places people and human rights at the center, ahead of profit-driven considerations.
The fight against disinformation and false narratives on the climate crisis emerged as a central theme throughout the negotiations. Attacks targeting scientists, researchers, and environmental journalists, aimed at undermining their credibility, risk weakening the effectiveness of the policies required to address climate change.
During COP30, twelve countries signed the first Declaration on the Integrity of Information on Climate Change, including Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, and Spain. Developed within the framework of the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change, the Declaration calls for targeted measures to counter the spread of false and misleading information related to the climate crisis, while safeguarding scientific evidence grounded in empirical data.
As the Conference progressed, strong confidence was repeatedly expressed in young people and future generations, recognized as key agents of change. Through the creation of science-based and sustainability-oriented content, awareness of the climate emergency among young people continues to grow significantly.

The Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty, and People-Centered Climate Action

The final document, intended to summarize the main outcomes of the COP and outline the direction of climate action in the coming years, was unexpectedly released in draft form as early as the third day of negotiations. From its initial versions, the text proposed a shared commitment to a gradual phase-out of fossil fuels within the next decade. Negotiations, coordinated under the leadership of Brazilian Minister of the Environment Marina Silva, led to the publication of the Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty, and People-Centered Climate Action.

Overall, the Declaration addresses several core issues in the global climate debate, including:

• the interconnection between the climate crisis and hunger, poverty, and social vulnerability;
• the need to adopt a people-centered approach in climate policies, particularly within national climate strategies and plans;
• the urgency of strengthening social protection systems and supporting small-scale food producers, with particular attention to conflict-affected and protracted crisis contexts;
• the implementation of a just transition for communities living in forests and at-risk ecosystems;
• the development of equitable, large-scale climate finance accessible to all countries.

While explicitly addressing several key priorities, the Declaration maintains a largely strategic and programmatic approach, without defining concrete plans to achieve the stated objectives, such as combating deforestation. Notably, it also lacks a roadmap for a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels (TAFF), an issue on which consensus could not be reached.
Fossil fuels are responsible for 68% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it impossible to meet international climate goals without structurally replacing coal, oil and gas with cleaner energy sources such as solar and wind. While COP28 in 2023 succeeded in reaching a compromise on a just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels, no substantial progress has been made since.
During negotiations, around 80 countries opposed the inclusion of a binding roadmap in the final document, including the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) group, Arab States, Russia and Italy, which as of the end of 2025 has not signed the Declaration. At the same time, a ministerial press conference highlighted that more than 80 countries supported the roadmap’s inclusion.

Eventually, as a compromise, the governments of Colombia and the Netherlands announced the organization of the First International Conference on the Phase-Out of Fossil Fuels, to be held outside the formal COP process, with the aim of overcoming the current negotiation deadlock. Colombian Minister of the Environment Irene Vélez Torres and Dutch Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Policy Sophie Hermans confirmed that this historic meeting will take place on 28–29 April 2026 in Santa Marta, Colombia.

Belém Political Package: Other Outcomes

Beyond the Belém Declaration, COP30 delivered several significant outcomes across multiple areas.
Following two weeks of intensive negotiations, the final decision set a target to mobilize $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 for climate action, alongside commitments to double adaptation finance by 2025 and triple it by 2035. The adopted text also launched two key initiatives: the Global Implementation Accelerator and the Belém Mission to 1.5°C, both designed to support countries in implementing their national climate plans (NDCs) and adaptation strategies.

Belém also renewed attention on the need to provide the Just Transition Work Programme, launched in 2022 and operational since 2023, with a robust institutional framework. Parties agreed to develop a Just Transition Mechanism aimed at strengthening international cooperation and the exchange of technical knowledge and best practices to enable just, equitable, and inclusive transitions. However, its launch was postponed: Parties tasked the Subsidiary Bodies with developing a draft decision at their June 2026 session, to be submitted for adoption at COP31 in November 2026.

Another major outcome was the adoption of the Belém Gender Action Plan (GAP) 2026–2034, reaffirming gender equality as a fundamental pillar of climate action. The Belém GAP promotes gender-responsive climate policies and interventions over the long term, building on the Lima Work Programme on Gender, established by decision 18/CP.20 and strengthened through the five-year programme adopted at COP25.
Recognizing that climate change affects people differently, the Belém GAP introduces for the first time explicit references to specific groups, including women and girls of African descent, women environmental defenders, women with migration background, women smallholder farmers, women in rural and remote communities, and women with disabilities. The plan outlines concrete actions to strengthen gender integration in climate policies, including initiatives addressing the links between climate and care work, health, violence against women and girls, safety and protection mechanisms, as well as nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation.

Regarding national commitments, COP30 registered some progress. The submission of dozens of new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) brought the total number of formally committed countries to 113. Collectively, these countries account for approximately 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, marking a significant step toward limiting temperature increases. However, available estimates suggest that current commitments would reduce emissions by only 12% by 2035. A real improvement, but still far from sufficient to meet the 1.5°C goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

The Voice of Civil Society

More than 23,000 participants were registered at COP30, including over 1,000 representatives from civil society organizations and movements. During multiple meetings, many Indigenous leaders described COP30 as the most inclusive Conference they had ever attended. In the first four days alone, over 900 Indigenous participants took part, a sharp increase compared to the 300 participants at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Symbolically reinforcing this presence, thousands of Indigenous representatives arrived in Belém by water from across South America, accompanying the final leg of the Amazon Flotilla.

Alongside official events, the Cúpula dos Povos (People’s Summit), held in Belém from 12 to 16 November, engaged more than 700,000 people through a wide range of participatory, mobilization, and collective action initiatives. The Summit was the outcome of a two-year preparatory process involving over 1,100 national and international social movements and organizations.
What distinguished this initiative was its ability to bring together actors that rarely intersect: social movements, Indigenous peoples, trade unions, artists, and researchers. People of all ages, backgrounds, identities, and experiences filled the spaces of the Federal University of Pará, blending protest and celebration, before converging in the large march on 15 November that crossed the city. The following day, the Summit concluded with the reading of the People’s Summit Declaration.
Indeed, Ana Toni, Executive Director of COP30, acknowledged the legitimacy of the demonstrations held during the negotiations and confirmed that the Brazilian government is listening to the demands raised by Indigenous peoples. In this context, Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sônia Guajajara and Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva expressed their willingness to engage in direct dialogue with civil society.
Numerous civil society–led events were also hosted within the Conference’s official pavilions. In particular, the Italian Pavilion – Blue Zone featured roundtables, workshops, interviews, and presentations of Italian projects and solutions, addressing a broad range of climate-related topics.