The Brazilian presidency of this year’s climate summit, COP30, is calling on the world to transition from the negotiation phase about tackling climate change to an era of practical steps.
COP30 President-Designate André Aranha Corrêa do Lago said this year’s summit, to be hosted in the Amazonian city of Belem in November, must represent a decisive transition from the regime’s negotiation phase: “COP30 must refocus our efforts on action and implementation. Words and text must be translated into actual practice and transformations on the ground. COP30 must mark the moment we transition to the UNFCCC “post-negotiation” phase.”
While acknowledging that significant collective progress has been made towards the Paris Agreement temperature goal, he noted that more significant advancements can be realized with the full implementation of agreements reached in previous negotiations.
“Given climate urgency, we need a new era beyond negotiating talks: we must help put into practice what we have agreed… National leaders must honor their resolve to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C. Human lives depend on it, future jobs depend on it, healthy environments depend on it,” said Lago.
“We will be judged in the future by our willingness to respond to the growing climate crisis firmly. Lack of ambition will be judged as lack of leadership, as there will be no global leadership in the 21st century that is not defined by climate leadership,” he added in a letter to parties and observers of COP30.
The President-Designate also called for collective international action to fast-track achievements of climate goals: “If global warming is left unchecked, change will be imposed on us as it disrupts our societies, economies, and families. If instead we choose to organize ourselves in collective action, we have the possibility of rewriting a different future. Changing by choice gives us the chance for a future that is not dictated by climate tragedy, but rather by resilience and agency towards a vision we design ourselves.”
He urged for mobilization and availing of resources adaptation, mitigation and tackling structural inequalities within and among countries, while paving the way for just transitions towards low-carbon and climate-resilient societies: “The reality is that there is sufficient global capital to close the global investment gap but there are barriers to redirecting capital to climate action. Governments, through public funding and clear signals to investors, are key in reducing these barriers.
“We need to use in the best way the multilateral financial architecture, remove barriers and address challenges faced by developing country Parties in financing climate action, including high costs of capital, limited fiscal space, unsustainable debt levels, high transaction costs, and conditionalities for accessing climate finance.”
He further called for acknowledgement and expansion of the role and contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in nature stewardship and climate leadership, while recognizing the disproportionate effects they suffer from climate change. Towards this, he said, COP30 will invite leaders among Indigenous Peoples to form a “Circle of Indigenous Leadership” to help integrate traditional knowledge and wisdom into global collective intelligence.
You can access the full letter on https://unfccc.int/documents/645947
