The 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém closed with decisions taken on issues including global adaptation to climate change and cooperation for socially just climate action. The negotiation results on reducing greenhouse gas emissions fell short of the European Union’s expectations. There was, however, clear implementation progress on concrete projects to protect rainforests and on the global energy transition. At the closing plenary meeting, COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago announced two roadmaps to phase out fossil fuels and end global deforestation. These will be incorporated into a process under the UNFCCC COP Presidency on the road to the next meeting, COP31, which will be hosted in Türkiye under the Turkish COP Presidency, with Australia as President of negotiations.
Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider remarked: "This Climate Change Conference has delivered on implementation, but has fallen short in terms of negotiation outcomes. The European Union united to push strongly for more climate action, but the entrenched fossil fuel world took advantage of the geopolitical situation. Unfortunately, efforts in Belém to move the process in the direction of adopting a binding roadmap for fossil fuel phase-out were unsuccessful. The countries blocking progress were too strong this time. Brazil’s response with voluntary initiatives to phase out fossil fuels and halt deforestation is a helpful step. Germany will support these initiatives. There are many positive developments globally that will also help. Twice as much has been invested in renewable energies recently as in fossil fuels. The transition away from fossil fuels adopted two years ago is fully under way. Real progress has also been made on protecting rainforests, an issue which this conference rightly brought into the spotlight."
Federal Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan commented: "At COP30, the international community took further steps towards a socially just phase-out of fossil fuels, even if those steps were much too small. The decisions taken on climate adaptation also fell short of what we had hoped and fought for. Poverty reduction can only be effective if we pursue truly ambitious climate action. Both issues are inextricably linked. Because the people most affected by global warming today need concrete solutions and more support to adapt to climate change and its impacts. Despite all of the international tensions, we succeeded in driving forward exactly this kind of practical progress. Countries of the Global South will receive more assistance in future to better cope with the tangible impacts of the climate crisis. The new rainforest fund, Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), supported by countries of the Global North and South, is a true breakthrough. Over the next ten years, Germany will contribute one billion euros to this forward-looking fund linking forest conservation, local development and climate action. Time is running out, but we are moving in the right direction. We have stepped up our international partnerships to move forward more quickly on implementation. The outcome of Belém encourages us because it shows that international cooperation works. It opens up opportunities. And this is what motivates me to continue strengthening our alliances and pick up the pace even more."
The key outcome of this conference came right at its start: as of today, 122 countries have submitted their updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs). This is important progress, even if the gap to the 1.5-degree limit is still large. The energy transition targets adopted two years ago to transition away from fossil fuels were reaffirmed. Brazil and the upcoming Presidency were charged with starting a process to accelerate the global implementation of these targets to close the gap to the 1.5-degree limit. There will be a voluntary instrument to accelerate the implementation of the nationally determined contributions and the national adaptation targets to keep the 1.5-degree limit within reach.
Efforts to build bridges between the Global North and South succeeded on the topic of socially equitable climate action, also referred to as "just transition". It was decided to set up a Just Transition Mechanism that will improve international cooperation in this area and share solutions and experiences for managing a just transition to a climate-neutral future. This gives social climate action a more prominent role at the UN Climate Change Conference. Federal Environment Minister Schneider negotiated on this issue for the European Union.
The Climate Change Conference agreed a list of around 60 indicators for measuring and structuring progress on the way to the global target for climate adaptation. The impacts of climate change are being felt worldwide, and this is a challenge for all countries.
International support for climate adaptation is an important need for many developing countries. The conference agreed to triple this support by 2035 within the framework of the climate finance goal adopted one year ago.
The Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) is now fully operational. The first application phase for projects promoting forward-looking climate adaptation measures in the Global South was launched at COP30. This is a key milestone for the new fund; the Federal Development Ministry played a major role in setting up the fund and making it operational.
Germany is a reliable partner in climate finance and currently invests almost half of its climate funding in adaptation projects and, therefore, in the stability of partner countries. In the closing plenary, the COP Presidency announced a roadmap to end global deforestation. This is an important step because tropical rainforests in particular – the planet's green lung – are fast approaching irreversible tipping points. At the COP30 venue, delegates from all around the world witnessed at first hand why the world urgently needs progress on forest conservation. Brazil has demonstrated in recent years how to fight back against deforestation. This momentum now needs to be taken up globally. The roadmap initiated by the Brazilian Presidency is a key step to halt deforestation by 2030.
In addition to the official negotiations, numerous agreements were reached on specific projects and collaborations, also involving leadership and support from Germany. Many individual decisions also illustrated that climate policy is increasingly being seen as a strategic answer to geopolitical uncertainty.
A selection of these agreements:
- The innovative Tropical Forests Forever Facility initiated by Brazil gained supporters from both the Global North and Global South. In addition to Brazil, Indonesia, Norway, France and other countries, Germany announced a contribution of one billion euros over ten years. The fund aims to generate financial returns for conserving tropical rainforests to help ensure that it makes more economic sense to protect standing forests than to cut them down.
- Further measures were adopted at COP30 to secure an end to global deforestation by 2030. As part of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, the Belém Call to Action for the Congo Basin Forests was adopted with significant support from Germany (Federal Development Ministry). With this call to action, the countries in the Congo Basin forests and their international partners commit to halting deforestation by 2030 and reversing the deforestation trends in their region.
- Progress on the phase-out of coal continues. The Republic of Korea, the country with the world’s seventh largest coal fleet, joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) at COP30, announcing its plans to shut down two-thirds of its coal-fired power plants by 2040 and to lay down a phase-out roadmap for the remaining plants in the coming year. Bahrain and Guatemala also joined the PPCA to show their commitment to the coal phase-out. The alliance now has 65 members.
- COP30 laid further foundations for the establishment of "green", climate-friendly lead markets. For example, to increase the market share of low-emission steel and cement in the coming years. The member countries of the Climate Club agreed this in their “Global pledge to grow near-zero and low-emissions steel and cement markets”. Mexico became the 47th member to join the Climate Club, whose goal is to advance industrial transition worldwide.
- Schemes for pricing harmful CO2 emissions are on the rise worldwide. At least 38 countries now have emissions trading systems, and another 20 countries are preparing to introduce them. Brazil therefore announced the establishment of an Open Coalition for Compliance Carbon Markets, highlighting the importance of carbon pricing as a key instrument for global decarbonisation. The goal is to strengthen international cooperation on emissions trading.
- Renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly efficient and affordable all over the world. However, they can only reach their full potential with powerful grids and storage systems. At COP30, agreement was reached on a comprehensive expansion of power grids, with the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA), the Green Grids Initiative, the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), IEA and IRENA announcing investment plans totalling one trillion US dollars. This will make a significant contribution to tripling the share of renewables in global electricity capacities by 2030.
- Reduction of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector will be accelerated. Several developed countries and emerging economies committed to this in a statement on “Drastically Reducing Methane Emissions in Global Fossil Fuel Sector”. The goal is to develop international production and import standards. The EU Methane Regulation will serve as a model.
- COP30 also shone a spotlight on the importance of climate policy for the international labour market. According to the Flagship Report supported by Germany, by 2030 there will be a global shortage of 6 million skilled workers in the renewable energy sector. At the same time, the report shows that countries that establish training and skills development in climate and industrial policy stand to benefit in terms of increased investment, economic output and resilience. Some 375 million additional jobs could be created worldwide by 2030.
- Germany officially joined the Global Peatlands Initiative as a champion country, committing to promoting the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of peatlands. Germany will share its best practices and findings, advocate global measures to protect peatlands, help increase awareness of the importance of peatlands and encourage other countries to join the initiative.
- Germany joined the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change at COP30. The value of a reliable and factual information basis was explicitly stated for the first time in the negotiations. The key role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was also defended against attempts by some countries to delete references to this central scientific body.