By Bibiana Alcântara Garrido*
The preparatory meeting for COP30, which took place in Brasilia on October 13 and 14, ended on a positive note, but showed that there is still work to be done before the climate conference in Belém next month.
More than 600 representatives from 67 countries attended. André Guimarães, executive director of IPAM (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia) was part of the event as the COP30 Presidency’s special envoy for civil society.
“It was two days of much dialog, many mentions of support for Brazil and the Brazilian COP presidency. The problematic issues also came up, such as the demands of developing countries and island nations for financial resources and the emergence of a certain frustration at the lack of a clear manifestation from northern countries for more commitment. Let’s hope that Belém puts these issues back into perspective, in order to increase ambition and stabilize the planet’s climate at around 1.5°C above the average temperature by the end of the century,” commented the director.
In the view of the Brazilian presidency, three consensuses stood out: the need to value nature economically; the proposal to make the conference in Belém the COP of implementation; and the strengthening of multilateralism to tackle climate change.
“It was very clear that we have a consensus that new economic instruments are needed to value nature. The TFFF [Tropical Forests Forever Fund] was much celebrated, but new economic instruments for valuing nature were discussed,” said Ana Toni, CEO of COP30. “There was also a consensus that this needs to be a COP of implementation and solutions, that we need to change this key. A third consensus was to strengthen multilateralism: to see all that the Paris Agreement has brought and the gaps we need to accelerate. Finally, the topic of adaptation came up very strongly, because this COP is expected to be a turning point for dealing with adaptation in a much more robust way.”
The Pre-COP also saw the launch of the Belém Commitment for Sustainable Fuels, dubbed “Belém 4x”. The initiative aims to gather high-level political support to quadruple the production and use of sustainable fuels by 2035 – such as hydrogen and biofuels.
One of the bottlenecks to be discussed at COP30 in Belém is precisely the “transition away from fossil fuels” agreed two conferences ago at COP28 in Dubai. In April 2025, IPAM published a study detailing the proposal to create a Green Royalties Fund as an alternative to oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon. The fund would compensate states and municipalities for non-exploitation with greater stability and durability than possible oil royalties could offer.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva highlighted the issue of energy transition and commented on the next ten years beyond the Paris Agreement. Signed in December 2015 as a result of COP21, the agreement established a global commitment to limit the increase in the planet’s average temperature to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels. In 2025, the United States announced its withdrawal from the agreement for the second time.
“The issue of the energy transition is a complex one, and this has been put into the GST [Global Stocktake]. The GST cannot be selective, because we have a set of decisions and all of them need to be dealt with equally, after all we are talking about the COP on implementation.” He added: “When we have an instrument that has provided the basis for negotiations in the climate conference environment to continue for ten years, it is challenging what will be the basis for the next ten. Obviously this won’t be built by Brazil alone, but the construction starts with COP30”.
Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, president of COP30, reinforced the vision for the conference: “What is the difference with the other COPs? It’s that we’re declaring it the COP of implementation, and implementation doesn’t need consensus: it’s much more an exercise in supporting each other. You have to listen to a lot of things and be very organized about the positions of each country. So it was extremely useful to have this Pre-COP, to have this better mapped out. The countries were very clear on the limits of what they can and cannot accept in the negotiation process.”
*IPAM journalist, bibiana.garrido@ipam.org.br
Cover photo: Closing session of Pre-COP30 in Brasilia (Bibiana Garrido/IPAM)
