As the 30th UN Climate Change Conference, the Conference of the Parties (COP) convenes in Belém, Brazil, the state of urgency seems beyond capacity for action. Despite decades of international efforts, emissions continue to rise, and 2023 was the hottest year on record. António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, recently confirmed that a legally binding objective from the 2015 Paris Agreement, to limit global temperature rise to well below 1.5°C, has failed to produce results.

The UN Emissions Gap Report 2024 indicated that to stay within 1.5°C, global emissions would need to be downscaled by 42% by 2030, and by 57% by 2035. As of COP30, no major emitter is on such a path. Existing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), climate action plans submitted by each country under the Paris Agreement, are insufficient, and fossil fuel phase-out is occurring far too slowly. Most COP decisions, including the NDCs, are not legally binding. This has pushed negotiators in Belém to prioritise accountability: tracking mechanisms, penalties, and legal clarity over compliance. At COP30, there is growing momentum to embed climate obligations into harder legal frameworks.

Several countries are pushing to include climate action as a justiciable right, following precedents set in European courts, where cases like Urgenda v. The Netherlands have mandated state action, on the principles under the European Convention on Human Rights; the “no harm” principle of international law; the doctrine of hazardous negligence, and others. Parallel efforts aim to link carbon emissions to trade regimes, either through carbon border taxes or climate clauses in trade pacts. The EU is advancing its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), taxing imported goods based on embedded emissions, designed to prevent “carbon leakage” and to counter the risk of businesses relocating production to countries with less stringent climate policies to avoid carbon costs.

Responsibility remains highly asymmetrical. According to the Global Carbon Atlas, just three countries—China, the United States, and India—account for over half of current CO₂ emissions. Historically, however, the global North bears the largest cumulative burden. This duality fuels tensions around equity and capacity. Developed countries pledged $100 billion per year by 2020 to support climate action in the Global South. This promise was repeatedly deferred and only nominally met in 2023. The new finance goal, expected to be formalised at COP30, remains vague. Developing nations, many of which face climate-induced losses they did not cause, are demanding clarity, scale, and justice, not loans or offset schemes, but grant-based finance and technical assistance. For climate resilience, according to UNEP’s 2024 Adaptation Gap Report, estimated needs in developing countries could exceed $300 billion annually by 2030.

Key Objectives of COP30

While missing the target, COP30 aims to launch a new era of global climate action defined by implementation, inclusion, and innovation. The key objectives follow:

– Accelerate: shifting from negotiating new commitments to delivering on those already made 
– Strengthen Adaptation, Resilience and Finance: A central aim is to scale up finance for adaptation, measure adaptation outcomes, and embed resilience in national systems.
– Mobilise and Align Capital: The discussions include mobilising large‑scale climate finance (public and private), launching roadmaps (e.g., the “Baku–Belém Roadmap” for US$1.3 trillion/year by 2035) and advancing market/investment mechanisms.
– Embed Climate Action in Broader Governance & Trade: COP30 seeks to link climate obligations to trade, investment, technology and legal frameworks — moving beyond purely environmental negotiation.
– Nature, Forests and the Amazon as Symbolic and Strategic Terrain: Given its location in the Amazon biome, COP30 is positioning forest protection, Indigenous rights and ecosystem‑solutions as core dimensions of climate action.
– Transparency, Accountability & Data: Enhancing the reporting, review and transparency mechanisms 

So far, the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change has been launched. “The document calls on governments, the private sector, civil society, academia, and donors to take concrete measures to address the growing impact of misinformation, false information, denialism, and deliberate attacks against environmental journalists, advocates, scientists, and researchers – actions that undermine climate efforts and jeopardize societal stability.”