World’s biggest climate negotiations are taking place next to the world’s biggest lungs. Are we choking on despair or is there hope in the air?

The global situation is truly confusing, power structures are changing rapidly and the major powers are looking for new allies. In the midst of all this, we tend to forget the climate crisis, which is ultimately the reason why geopolitical and economic struggles are increasingly escalating. The fight against the climate crisis is essentially linked to the COP Climate talks.

COP29 and the aftermath of failure

Have any climate negotiations ever succeeded as expected? When you google COP and failure, you get the result of every year of negotiations. However, COP29 was described as perhaps the biggest failure to date and the whole institution is now being called into question. The first major factor was that nearly 2,000 fossil fuel lobbyists attended COP29 – substantially more than the previous conferences of the parties. COP29 ended with countries from the global north committing $300 billion per year in climate finance to developing countries. This money is meant to pay for developing countries to carry out climate change adaptation and mitigation and move away from fossil fuels. But the amount falls far short of the $1.3 trillion per year needed. The outcome of COP29 has clearly created more serious doubts than ever before.

And now the world’s biggest emitter, the United States, has withdrawn from international climate agreements. By withdrawing, the United States has joined Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only four countries not party to the agreement, under which nations work together to keep global warming in check. Brazil’s newly nominated head of the planned 2025 COP30 climate summit in the Amazonian city of Belem warned that President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement would cast a shadow over the talks. “We are still analyzing President Trump’s announcements, but there is no doubt they will have a significant impact on preparation for COP30,” Ambassador Andre Correa do Lago told reporters on Tuesday shortly after he was named to the post. Everyone will be hoping that other countries do not follow the US example.

How can we wait, what can we count on and what can we do?

There are indeed huge problems, but in this global context, the fight against the climate crisis is more important than ever. The worst thing we can do is to become passive. What is important is of course the outcome of the negotiations, but what is also important is how we join forces. We worked closely in Dubai with the COP28 organisations: we strategised for Rewired, bringing together climate work and education, and with the UNFCC we packaged information and training materials for young climate activists. This work was interesting, but at least as interesting was meeting so many influencers and organisations from all over the world. In Dubai there were more companies present than ever before, many doubted their transparency, quite rightly, greenwashing was indeed present but also real competence and will. So a big issue was how we can strengthen cooperation between governments, businesses and organisations.  This work will continue in Brazil in November.

Hopes are high that COP30 will be a turning point for climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. With a global stocktake completed at COP28 and the Paris agreement rulebook finalized at COP29, the main task in Belém will be to accelerate the implementation of existing agreements. Our goal at COP30 is to translate promises into practice. One huge and important issue is how the Global South is taken into account in this change, we are still nowhere near justice.

Come and join in the planning

How are you or your organisation involved in this debate? We are working with our partners to plan measures for the COP30 climate negotiations, and there are many ways to collaborate. We help organisations navigate COP effectively—whether it’s building key relationships, ensuring impactful participation, or strengthening communications. To be part of our COP30 collaboration, get in touch with us by the end of March 2025, to ensure your organisation is prepared to make a meaningful impact in Belém.