Mutirão! – What is expected at COP30?

Kruthika Eswaran
Aug 11
5 min read

Updated: Aug 12

With lacklustre and mixed outcomes from the recently concluded Bonn Summit, the more optimistic London Climate Week, and the geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the upcoming New York Climate Week, all eyes are on the annual COP event in November 2025, taking place in Belém, Brazil – home to the world’s largest and most vital ecosystem.

Many expectations are riding on this event to deliver not just impactful negotiations but also concrete frameworks for implementing actionable solutions.

A just society, along with the eradication of all forms of inequalities, has been a key objective of Brazil’s growth and national development since 1988, as established by the federal constitution. The constitution also mandates that Brazil's international relations be guided by cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity. This principle will be central to Brazil's presidency of COP30, reflecting the belief that future progress depends on deep and sustained cooperation among nations. The president of COP30, André Corrêa do Lago, in his letter to the public, has invited the international community to join Brazil in a global “Mutirão” against climate change – an ancient expression referring to the global collaborative effort among peoples for the progress of humanity.

Curupira - Guardian of forests and animals. This symbol reflects the Brazilian presidency's commitment to solidifying efforts that reduce greenhouse gas emissions (https://cop30.br/en/news-about-cop30/at-cop30-curupira-reinforces-brasils-identity-and-its-bond-with-nature)

To strengthen multilateralism, make UNFCCC more human-centric, and speed up the Paris Agreement Implementation, the COP30 Action Agenda aims to tackle three significant challenges:

(i) Aligning the Action Agenda with previous agreements made under successive UNFCCC COPs and the Paris Agreement;

(ii) Utilising existing initiatives to accelerate and scale climate action;

(iii) Promoting transparency, monitoring, and accountability for both current and new pledges and initiatives.

GLOBAL STOCKTAKE (GST)

One of the major focus topics in COP30 will be the Global Stocktake (GST). Unfortunately, no consensus was reached in the stocktake between Developed Countries and Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) at the Bonn Summit, the main precursor for negotiation parties to convene before COP30. The outcome was two separate documents with all discussions pushed to Belém.

JUST TRANSITION WORK PROGRAMME (JTWP)

Apart from the GST, other key discussion topics include the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP), which made small positive progress at Bonn, leading to possible formal negotiations at Belém, and the Baku to Belém Roadmap.

6 AXES AND 30 OBJECTIVES

30 key objectives from the COP30 action agenda will be organised into six axes covering mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation:

Transitioning Energy, Industry, and Transport: (1) tripling renewables and doubling energy efficiency, (2) accelerating zero- and low-emission technologies in hard-to-abate sectors, (3) ensuring universal access to energy, and (4) transitioning away from fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.
Stewarding Forests, Oceans, and Biodiversity: (5) investments to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation, (6) efforts to conserve, protect and restore nature and ecosystems with solutions for climate, biodiversity and desertification, and (7) efforts to preserve and restore oceans and coastal ecosystems.
Transforming Agriculture and Food Systems: (8) land restoration and sustainable agriculture, (9) more resilient, adaptive, and sustainable food systems, and (10) equitable access to adequate food and nutrition for all.
Building Resilience for Cities, Infrastructure and Water: (11) multilevel governance, (12) sustainable and resilient constructions and buildings, (13) resilient urban development, mobility, and infrastructure, (14) water management and (15) solid waste management.
Fostering Human and Social Development: (16) promoting resilient health systems, (17) reducing the effects of climate change on eradicating hunger and poverty, (18) education, capacity-building, and job creation to address climate change, (19) culture, cultural heritage, and climate action.
Cross-cutting issues - Unleashing Enablers and Accelerators, including on Finance, Technology and Capacity Building: (20) climate and sustainable finance, mainstreaming climate in investments, and insurance, (21) finance for adaptation, (22) climate-integrated public procurement, (23) harmonisation of carbon markets and carbon accounting standards, (24) climate and trade, (25) reduction of non-CO2 gases, (26) governance, state capacities and institutional strengthening for climate action, planning and preparedness, (27) Artificial Intelligence, Digital Public Infrastructure and digital technologies, (28) innovation, climate entrepreneurship and small and micro businesses, (29) bioeconomy and biotechnology, and (30) information integrity in climate change matters.

BAKU TO BELEM ROADMAP

The “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T’ is a collaborative report to be shared by the COP29 and COP30 presidencies in October 2025, focusing on increasing climate finance for developing countries to support low-carbon and climate-resilient strategies. To reach this goal, a substantial boost in both adaptation and mitigation funding is necessary. In Bonn, this roadmap was not the primary focus and was overshadowed by the deadlock in adaptation finance. A first draft is expected in September, about two months before COP30, and negotiations are likely to be tense in Brazil.

COP30 - A successful implementation or just an illusion of a negotiation?

This year’s COP is significant, being not just 20 years since the Kyoto Protocol came into force, but also the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Both of these protocols, while showing successful multilateral collaboration in the early stages, led to very different outcomes, with the Kyoto Protocol failing and the Paris Agreement becoming a vital milestone for worldwide action. Taking the process of how both the agreements came into force through multilateralism as an inspiration, the current COP president, André Corrêa do Lago, has emphasised the importance of global collaboration (Mutirão) but also systems thinking at the upcoming event.

However, no one said it would be easy. Similar to the adverse events surrounding Baku last year, it was not surprising that certain events in Brazil have come under intense scrutiny -

The Brazilian government announced that several oil companies won the rights to explore nineteen offshore oil fields near the mouth of the Amazon River, ironically close to Belem, where COP30 will be taking place. This has sparked huge controversies, especially when the Brazilian President wants to use COP30 to position Brazil as a leader in Green Diplomacy.
In what has resulted in a significant setback to promote Brazil as an environmental leader, the Congress passed what is being called the “Devastation Bill”. This bill facilitates irreversible ecological damage and threatens indigenous and local communities. A major concern is the removal of environmental licensing, allowing infrastructure projects labelled as 'medium' polluters to expedite their approval process without third-party oversight. The President has until August 8th to decide, a move that could be crucial to avoiding further embarrassment.

Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether the discussions at COP30 will stay at the negotiation level or if they will develop into a concrete implementation framework. If successful, COP30 could serve as a starting point for global climate action and progress.

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