COP30 is taking place ten years after the Paris climate agreement, in which countries pledged to try to restrict the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C.
What is COP30?
COP30 is the 30th annual UN climate meeting, where governments discuss how to limit and prepare for further climate change. COP stands for “Conference of the Parties”. “Parties” refers to the nearly 200 countries that signed up to the original UN climate agreement in 1992.
COP30 will run from Monday 10 November to Friday 21 November, 2025. The summit opens on Thursday 6 November and Friday 7 November. The conference often overruns as a result of last-minute negotiations to secure a deal which is acceptable to all the participants. The conference will be held in Brazil for the first time, in Belem in the Amazon rainforest. The host nation was chosen by the participating countries after a nomination from the host region.
Representatives are expected from countries around the globe. Politicians will be joined by diplomats, journalists and campaigners. COP30 is taking place at a crucial moment with global climate targets under significant strain.
In Paris in 2015, nearly 200 countries agreed to try to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C above “pre-industrial” levels of the late 1800s, and keep them “well below” 2C.
There is very strong scientific evidence that the impacts of climate change – from extreme heat to sea-level rise – would be far greater at 2C than at 1.5C. But while the use of renewable energy – particularly solar power – is growing at a rapid pace, countries’ climate plans have consistently fallen short of what is needed to meet the 1.5C goal.
Under the Paris agreement, countries were supposed to have submitted updated plans ahead of COP30 detailing how they will cut their emissions of planet-warming gases.
Given how close the target is and how high emissions remain, UN secretary general António Guterres has conceded that “overshooting” that 1.5C target is now inevitable. He added that he hoped temperatures could still be brought back down to the 1.5C target by the end of the century.
The UN hopes that COP30 will demonstrate an increased commitment to the process set out in the Paris pact.