COP30 in Belém shows that there is still much to be done in the field of Climate Action.

On Monday the 10th November 2025, the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP30 - kicked off in Belém, Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon, an emblematic wild area which is severely affected by human pressure that degraded more than a third of its entire extension, about 6,7 million square kilometres of rainforest, as a consequence of deforestation, drought, fires and other plagues. The COP30 is a full-immersion hub animated by close negotiations and debates to monitor progress in the field of adaptation and mitigation towards a fairer global transition.

However, there are many obstacles on the way. Recent data from the OCSE's (=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Climate Action Monitor 2025 indicate that Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD - countries and partners are quite far from meeting the climate targets set for 2030, and also with a view to a longer term targets for 2050. Greenhouse emission are expected to increase increase average temperatures on Planet Earth to nearly 6 °C by 2100.

At the same time, desertification is spreading, with a depletion of soil fertility, especially in Africa and the Americas. Last but not least, global climate action is slowing while the economic and social gap is more accentuated.

Photo >> Official logo of the © COP30

On the 10th anniversary after the ratification of the Paris Agreement by 195 Countries, whose target was to keep the average global temperature blow 2°C (above pre-industrial levels) doing their best to limit it to 1.5 °C, the Parties are asked to put in place concrete actions with tangible results. In particular, according to COP29 held in 2024 in Azerbaijan, the richest nations committed to provide at least $300 billion in climate finance towards Developing Countries by 2035, as reaffirmed by nearly 200 countries.

That means decrease annual emissions of 35% and 55% from 2019 levels by that time.

The COP30 is then charged to set the road map to meet the needs of emergent Nations quantified by economists in about $1.3 trillion to foster green energy and climate action.

The debate these days addresses the not easy task of finding the funds needed to implement the plan which is framed in a pre-treaty non-binding context that ideally would produce legal obligations in the individual contracting States whether an effective conclusion will be reached. According to the above-mentioned OECD's Climate Action Monitor, only thirty Countries, including Monaco, have already implemented concrete actions in terms of reduction of pollutant emissions through net-zero accurate commitments by 2035, the first milestone fixed in the Paris Agreement.

As stated in the United Nations report, only 8% ($26 billion) of necessary annual incentives for poorer Countries to address Climate Change, equal to more than $310 billion (note: 2023 data).

Photo >> The demonstration of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon at © COP30 in Belém (Brazil)

The geopolitical structure does not help, considering that some of the most impactful nations, notably the United States, India and China (responsible for nearly 50% of global emissions), decided not to send influential personalities at COP30, except for some technical envoys.

This year's edition proves to be particularly tense from the social point of view, since time is running out. Not by chance, thousands of activists, indigenous communities, and organisations demonstrated in recent asking for taking action more than gathering in international summits of promises that struggle to come true, creating geographical disparities.

On the eve of the summit's opening, sixty indigenous leaders from Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil reached Belém onboard the Yaku Mama (“Mother Water”) to reiterate that the forest cannot be saved without its inhabitants. Brazil, the hosting Country, continues to have major internal social and economic problems, remaining balanced between forest conservation and climate justice on one hand, and oil extraction and agricultural monocultures, on the other hand.

The spotlight is on the next few days debates at COP30 whose aim is to achieve a new agreement, of the same nature of Paris Agreement, to accelerate global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate goals. ***

✒️ Maurice Abbati

• Strategic Communication Specialist, Editor in Chief, Journalist, Executive.

• Lecturer and Author in English in the field of Environmental Communication to foster Circular and Blue Economy.