2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference

I mean, there's a lot of valid criticisms, especially as the US withdrew from the Paris Agreement and withdrew from the UNFCCC process.

I mean, there was some chatter before COP 30, the most recent one, that potentially the US withdrawing would lead to other countries withdrawing.

What we saw at the COP was actually a really strong commitment towards multilateralism and a commitment to working together and making progress.

There's sort of been a step more towards the margins, away from consensus-based processes, where yes, a lot of oil-producing countries have influence and then ultimately weaken the outcome of the decision.

So if the agenda is shaped too heavily by Europe or the U.S., we risk overlooking challenges and opportunities that matter most for emerging markets, including, as we said already, adaptation, nature, climate, finance, the role of sustainability in driving inclusive growth.

As we move toward COP 30 first, it is critical that the voices and experiences from the Global South are not just included, but actively help shape the agenda.

I think what you just mentioned about the Global South and the Latin American perspective is so important because the fact is, you know, most of the natural resources, raw commodities, and frankly, supply chains of most of the world's largest businesses in OECD countries in North America, in Europe, in fact, sit in the Global South.

And so there is no disconnecting the health and resilience of one part of the world with another.

Take us in a new direction again.

Yeah, well, we had a great discussion with Marcelo Behar, who's the special envoy for bioeconomy for the COP30 presidency.

So Marcelo's an old friend of ours from Brazil, and he's been in corporate and government roles before.

But this one sort of championing the bioeconomy was fascinating, describing what it is and how companies that recognize they are dependent upon and have impacts on nature.

That has done more to build in the social, right? That I think he's saying that there's a more powerful – and intentional balancing of nature, biodiversity, and people and community issues than there was in the original model.

And he, of course, pointed us forward a little bit.

Chris, he was the, I forget the exact title, but basically the nature and biodiversity envoy at COP30 in Brazil.

And he was pointing ahead at how he thought the agendas, climate and nature, biodiversity will come together during the cop season of the months ahead, when of course we have not one, not two, but three cops coming up.

with progress on issues such as land tenure, demarcation and funding, but little progress on key issues including preventing deforestation and phasing out fossil fuels.

The COP30 Presidency, recognising that there was demand from many countries and constituencies for action on these issues, proposed two separate roadmaps set to run in parallel to the standard UNFCCC processes.

one on transitioning away from fossil fuels and a second on halting and reversing deforestation by 2030.

In a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape where divisions are deeply entrenched, these roadmaps may represent the key to real progress.

This episode is born from a collaboration between Seeds for Change, Kinta, and the International Climate Politics Hub, with support from the Climate and Land Use Alliance.

Groundwork works alongside Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant peoples, and local communities to strengthen their engagement and political influence across policy and governance spaces that shape territories, rights, and collective futures.

The end of COP30 saw the launch of two separate roadmaps.

The first, which I'll refer to as TAF, will map out strategies for nations to transition away from fossil fuels, as countries signed up to do at COP28 in Dubai.

Once again, the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement reinstated climate denialism at the global level during the first year of his administration.

Although COP 30 achieved partial progress, with a new fund for forests, commitments to finance indigenous communities, and bioeconomy projects, the negotiations stalled precisely at the central point.

Media outlets reported that negotiators abandoned efforts for a roadmap to meet the 2030 zero-deforestation target and that the final text omitted any reference to a transition away from fossil fuels, due to the pressure of oil-producing and major emitting countries.

The COPs have ceased to be strategic spaces and have instead become forums for exposure and networking.

Near-shoring and advanced manufacturing will only be sustainable if the country guarantees clean, affordable, and reliable electricity.

Achieving this requires a deep energy reform, not more of the same.

COP 30 demonstrated that the multilateral system alone will not save us.

U.S. leadership has again withdrawn from the climate arena, and major fossil powers have taken advantage to block ambition.

She also joined our podcast.

while attending COP30 in Belém, Brazil.

And Sansana Amrsana, a climate activist and COP29 youth delegate and the host of the Beyond Greenhouse podcast.

Welcome to the podcast.

Yeah, basically do those things.

Not getting a good pledge and decisions on the agreements.

And also, I feel like maybe... you guys also seen from the previous conventions of COP30, where there wasn't a great pledge on fossil fuels, and COP16, where we did not also get a binding resolution on the draft.

And in this COP, we also got all those items basically pushed towards COP18.

And the sad part is, is that if he believes that he can win based off of this, that means people are more concerned with the economy than they are for the environment, for the future of the nation, and of the world because of climate change, and they are unconcerned with conservationism, with sustainability, with decarbonizing.

Speaking on Monday, he insisted, "I'm not denying my commitment to the fight for a day when we no longer need fossil fuels because Brazil will continue to be the king of biofuel innovation, and will remain a major player in renewable energy." Environmentalists were aghast when Lula announced he had given Petrobras the green light to start the exploratory drilling just weeks before the COP 30 climate conference hosted by Br- Brazil last November.

In his remarks on Monday, the president made a reference to the anger at the time, singling out opposition in Europe in particular.

"Many people didn't want me to announce that Petrobras had won the license because they said that the Europeans would be annoyed.

But here we are.

You know, we recently at COP 30 in Brazil, we won the United Nations AI for good.

So, you know, it's the proof is in the pudding at the end of the day.

It was a very unorthodox way to go by it.