By Lucas Guaraldo*
Exactly 30 days before the start of COP 30, the presidency of the Climate Conference has started the pre-COP, a series of meetings held in preparation for the climate event, with the aim of anticipating consensus and debates that will be central in Belém. Around 65 delegations are taking part in the event, which should kick-start discussions on key issues at COP 30, such as climate finance, adaptation to climate change and reducing emissions.
The meeting opened with a press conference organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended by Marina Silva, Minister for the Environment and Climate Change; Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, President of COP 30; Ambassador Maurício Lyrio, Secretary for Climate, Energy and the Environment; and Ana Toni, Executive Director of COP 30.
“We’ve been doing a lot of diplomatic work so that we can arrive at COP 30 with some commitments in place and achieve the results that the planet needs. We’re going to fulfill our goal of making this the COP of Truth, the COP of Implementation and the COP that will avoid points of no return,” said Minister Marina Silva.
What we can expect from COP 30
COP 30, which will be held in Belém from November 10 to 21, will be responsible for discussing at least 140 fundamental decisions for tackling climate change across the planet. Among the central themes of the Conference are public and private funding for forest conservation and protection actions and the presentation of the NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions), commitments by each country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.
Taking place ten years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, the COP in Belém will also be a determining factor in a new phase of tackling the climate crisis, when the signatory countries will have to renew their NDCs and assess the progress made over the last decade. Now in its thirtieth edition, the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC has 162 confirmed delegations.
“We can’t underestimate the strength of this period of mobilization before COP 30. We held a series of consultations with different sectors of the population on all continents to include as many points of view as possible in the discussions. We also have the Peoples’ Cycle, which has promoted a huge number of meetings to bring indigenous peoples into the debate. We do this to think about the governance structures we will need for the future,” celebrated Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago.
As strategic agendas for Brazil, the areas of climate adaptation and just transition, protection of areas of native vegetation, social impacts of climate change, renewable energy and low carbon solutions, as well as Global Stocktake – the assessment carried out by the UN to monitor compliance with the goals of the Paris Agreement – stand out.
Also among the relevant points are strategies for global climate finance, such as the TFFF (Tropical Forests Forever Fund), a Brazilian proposal for a fund with public and private capital that will pay countries to protect and expand their tropical forests. During Climate Week in New York, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced his commitment to allocate US$ 1 billion to the initiative.
Climate targets
So far, 62 countries, including Brazil, have submitted their new NDCs to the United Nations, and another 63 have pledged to present their updated targets and strategies by COP 30. The United States, which withdrew from the Paris Agreement 11 months ago and is not expected to launch new NDCs, still maintains the goals presented by the Joe Biden administration, but does not plan to expand its ambitions.
“Unfortunately, we had a very sluggish delivery of NDCs by the February deadline and we continue to have major absences among the main emissions hubs. The global temperature projected only with what is proposed in the NDCs presented is not the most reassuring. This is one of the great challenges of the COP: to tackle the issue of climate change effectively and urgently,” warned Ambassador Maurício Lyrio.
In addition to the United States, other major emitters have also failed to publish their new NDCs. The European Union missed the February and September deadlines for submitting its targets, but has committed to releasing its position during COP 30. India, the planet’s third largest emitter, has also not submitted its updated contribution.
IPAM journalist, lucas.itaborahy@ipma.org.br*