COP30 (Belem, Brazil 2025)

The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Belém, Brazil, at the edge of the Amazon—symbolically reminding the world that climate negotiations are no longer abstract, they are ecological and civilisational.

Unlike earlier COPs that focused heavily on new promises, COP30 attempted to move from “talk” to “action”.

The central outcome was the Belém Package.

🔑 Key Highlights of COP30

📦 The Belém Package: What is it?

The Belém Package is a bundle of 29 negotiated decisions adopted by countries.

Think of it as a policy toolkit, not a single treaty.

🎯 Core Objectives of the Belém Package

It aims to:

• Strengthen implementation of existing climate pledges
• Scale climate finance (but without binding commitments)
• Advance just transitions
• Improve tracking of mitigation actions
• Strengthen adaptation planning
• Promote gender-responsive climate governance

📌 Big shift
👉 COP30 marked a transition from negotiating new targets → ensuring delivery of old promises.

🤝 Global Mutirão Agreement: Cooperation Over Confrontation

COP30 concluded with the Global Mutirão Agreement.

• “Mutirão” (Portuguese) means collective effort
• It is a political consensus, not a legally binding treaty

Key Characteristics:

• Reflects a compromise between developed and developing countries
• Focuses on practical cooperation, not higher ambition
• Avoids reopening contentious issues like binding fossil fuel timelines

Brazil also launched the Global Mutirão Platform:

• A digital coordination hub
• Aims to close the implementation gap in:
  • Energy
  • Finance
  • Trade

⚖️ Just Transition Mechanism (Belém Action Mechanism)

COP30 introduced a Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) to support:

• Workers affected by energy transition
• Economic diversification
• Skills and capacity-building

📌 Critical limitation

• ❌ No new or guaranteed funding
• Without finance, just transition remains aspirational, not transformational

📊 From Targets to Tracking: New Accountability Tools

🔍 Global Implementation Tracker

• Tracks whether countries’ actions align with 1.5°C pathways
• Monitors NDC delivery gaps
• Strengthens transparency and accountability

🎯 Belém Mission to 1.5°C

• Reinforces scientific alignment of national actions with climate limits

👉 This reflects a mature phase of climate governance—monitor first, promise later.

🌱 Adaptation Outcomes: Some Progress, Many Questions

1️⃣ National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Implementation Alliance

• Helps vulnerable countries design and implement adaptation plans
• Focus on on-ground resilience

2️⃣ Adaptation Finance

• Countries agreed to triple adaptation finance by 2030 (from 2025 levels)

❗ But:

• No clarity on who pays
• No roadmap for mobilisation

3️⃣ Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)

• Finalisation of Baku Adaptation Roadmap
• Adoption of 59 voluntary indicators to track progress

🏥 Belém Health Action Plan

Launched on Health Day at COP30.

It aims to:

• Strengthen global health systems
• Address climate-linked health risks
• Promote health equity and community-led resilience

📌 Climate change is increasingly framed as a public health crisis.

🌳 Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF)

Brazil unveiled the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF).

Key Features:

• Size: USD 125 billion
• Model: Payment-for-performance
• Monitoring: Satellite-based verification

Brazil committed the first USD 1 billion.

👉 Countries are rewarded only if forests are actually preserved.

⚡ Belém 4× Pledge on Sustainable Fuels

• Aim: Quadruple use of sustainable fuels by 2035
• Covers:
  • Hydrogen
  • Biofuels
  • Biogas
  • E-fuels
• Progress monitored annually by the International Energy Agency (IEA)
• Flexible for national contexts

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty & People-Centred Action

Signed by 43 countries + EU.

Focuses on:

• Vulnerable communities
• Adaptation-first approach
• Social protection
• Crop insurance
• Local resilience

👉 Mitigation is retained, but development is placed at the centre.

🚺 Belém Gender Action Plan (GAP)

Objectives:

• Ensure gender-responsive climate action
• Enhance participation of women, especially from vulnerable communities
• Strengthen inclusion across climate governance institutions

🇮🇳 India’s Position at COP30

💰 Climate Finance as a Legal Obligation

India (with BASIC & LMDC groups) stressed:

• Climate finance must be:
  • Predictable
  • Scaled-up
  • Grant-based
• Developed countries must honour Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement
• Need for a universally accepted definition of climate finance

📊 India cited hard data:

• Adaptation need by 2035: USD 310–365 billion/year
• Current flows: USD 26 billion
• Glasgow’s USD 40 billion adaptation goal for 2025 will not be met

⚖️ Equity and Climate Justice

India reiterated:

• CBDR-RC
• Historical responsibility of developed countries
• Full implementation of:
  • UNFCCC
  • Kyoto Protocol
  • Paris Agreement

India strongly opposed unilateral trade tools like European Union’s CBAM, calling them discriminatory and protectionist.

🌊 Adaptation & Vulnerable Nations

India emphasised:

• Adaptation must be equal to mitigation
• Predictable support for vulnerable nations
• Focus on:
  • Early-warning systems
  • Climate-resilient infrastructure
  • Disaster resilience

❌ Major Shortcomings of COP30

Despite its ambitious packaging, COP30 failed on key fronts:

1️⃣ No Fossil Fuel Phase-Out

• No roadmap for phase-out or phase-down
• Fossil fuels deliberately avoided in final text

2️⃣ Weak Climate Finance Outcomes

• No clarity on:
  • Article 9.1 obligations
  • USD 1.3 trillion goal
  • Adaptation finance sources

3️⃣ Ambition & NDC Gap

• Many major emitters (including India) did not submit updated NDCs
• Weakens mitigation momentum

4️⃣ Persistent Implementation Gap

• Pledges remain:
  • Voluntary
  • Without timelines
  • Without enforcement

5️⃣ Just Transition Without Money

• Mechanism exists, resources do not

🧠 Conclusion

COP30 marked a shift from ambition to accountability, but without finance, fossil fuel commitments, or enforcement, the global climate response remains structurally weak—prompting India to firmly defend equity, adaptation, and climate justice.