UN Climate Change Conference 2025: COP30 in Belém at a glance
Brazil hosted the UN Climate Change Conference 2025. We answer the key questions about COP30.
When and where took the UN Climate Change Conference 2025 place?
The UN Climate Change Conference 2025 was held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025. In the previous two years, Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates – two authoritarian, oil-producing states – hosted the UN Climate Change Conference. It is now Brazil’s turn, and once again we have a democratic country with ambitious climate policy goals. Expectations in the run-up to the event were correspondingly high, even if the largest per-capita emitter, the United States (US) under President Donald Trump, has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement for the second time. Trump announced the withdrawal immediately after taking office in January 2025, describing climate change as a ‘green energy scam’ before the UN General Assembly a few months later. Many people are hoping all the more that the other states will not be influenced by this, but will show willing and dig deep into their pockets. In Brazil, we will see whether they continue to attach importance to the issue or follow the example of the US and scale back climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes.
Why was Brazil chosen as the host country for COP30?
The venue for the climate summit rotates between five regional groups at the United Nations: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Europe and Others (including North America and Australia), and Eastern Europe. This time it was the turn of the Latin America and the Caribbean region, and the names of Brazil and Belém were put forward. The proposal was accepted in consensus by the Conference of the Parties in 2023. As a rule, this body decides two years in advance who is to be the next-but-one host.
Why are people talking about a ‘forest’ COP?
In Brazil, the role of forests – especially tropical forests – in mitigating climate change will be very much at the forefront. The backdrop provides the clue – Belém is situated at the edge of the Amazon basin. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian President, has repeatedly emphasised how valuable forests are. He claims to have cut deforestation by half since taking office two years ago, just as he made deforestation an issue during his first presidency from 2003 to 2011. To underscore this, Brazil will present a new fund for the global protection of tropical rainforests at COP30. The Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) aims to mobilise 125 billion US dollars – the largest sum ever for forest protection – from public and private sources. Brazil itself has already committed to providing one billion US dollars for the fund and hopes other states will make further contributions in Belém.
Which input was expected from the host country?
Brazil has taken its role as host very seriously from the outset and in various letters to the country representatives has called for action and commitment. Its declared aim at the COP is to revitalise the climate process and accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement. Social aspects will also play a role. Brazil is working for a just transition to a climate-friendly world in which the poor, Indigenous Peoples and local communities are not unduly burdened, but compensated for hardships and included in decision-making. Apart from the TFFF, the South American country has therefore prepared an Action Agenda for the negotiations, comprising six thematic axes and 30 key objectives. These include forest protection as well as the energy transition, sustainable agriculture and environmentally sound water use. The agenda clearly states, for instance, that fossil fuels are to be phased out in favour of renewable energies. In the negotiations, Brazil is not only aiming to reaffirm and codify this and other objectives, but also to link these to concrete solutions and implementation steps. The host country has thus set itself ambitious goals for the conference.
is aimed to be mobilised from the Tropical Forest Forever Facility for forest protection
What were the outcomes of COP29 in Baku?
Experts did not have high expectations for COP29 in Azerbaijan. The host country and its authoritarian regime were the focus of much criticism. Indeed, looking back, the COP is considered rather insubstantial. Afterwards, some even claimed it had failed because there was a lobby at the negotiations that from the outset was bent on delaying the talks and watering down the wording. This put a damper on proceedings. But even this COP did not conclude without any results or progress. A compromise was reached on climate financing: the target amount was tripled from 100 to 300 billion US dollars a year starting from 2026. Wealthier countries will then be expected to pay developing countries much more to fund climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. An agreement was also reached on methane, a particularly harmful greenhouse gas. This was signed by 30 countries, including Germany. The goal is to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.