Third Letter from the Brazilian COP30 Presidency
This is a copy of the third letter from the Brazilian Presdiency
Dear friends,
Advancing the global effort
against climate change, the Brazilian Presidency of the 30th Conference of the
Parties (COP30) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) presents its third letter to the international community, focused on
preparations for the 62nd period of sessions of the Subsidiary Body for
Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for
Implementation (SBI). The meetings will take place in Bonn, from June 16 to 26,
2025.
Listening carefully to the views
and perspectives of delegates, Parties and other stakeholders, the COP30
Presidency will also address the negotiations that will take place at COP30
later in the year. In subsequent communications, I will also present plans for
the Action Agenda and the Leaders’ Summit.
In a context where climate urgency intersects with growing geopolitical and socio-economic challenges, the COP30 Presidency expects all delegations to be guided by three interconnected priorities for SB62 and COP30: (1) strengthening multilateralism and the climate regime under the UNFCCC; (2) connecting the climate regime to people’s real lives; and (3) accelerating the implementation of the Paris Agreement by stimulating action and structural adjustments in all institutions capable of contributing to this goal.
The COP30 Presidency is working
to ensure that the negotiations, global mobilization, Action Agenda and
Leaders’ Summit contribute to ushering in a new era of delivering on what has
already been agreed. The first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement (GST) is
our guide to Mission 1.5 and our collective blueprint for the vision of the
Convention and the purpose and long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, in the
context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty. All public
and private actors must work together to fully implement the Paris Agreement
based on the outcomes of the GST. This includes global calls to halt and
reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 and to accelerate the
global energy transition. We must support each other to collectively advance
the goals of tripling global renewable energy capacity, doubling the global
average rate of improvement in energy efficiency and transitioning away from
fossil fuels in energy systems in a fair, orderly and equitable manner.
Achieving these interrelated
goals will require more than compromise. It will require a shift in the way we
think and work together. Systems thinking—a theme I addressed in my last
letter—is the key to exponential cooperation, justice in transitions, and
sustainability of outcomes. Just as in our politics, economy, and society—and
the planet on which all of this takes place—negotiations also involve an
“ecology of perspectives,” equally vulnerable to the risks of tipping points
and irreparable damage to decision-making. We hope that the global Task Force
will also lead negotiators to engage in the care and repair of this shared
ecology in the process we build together. We have the responsibility and the
agency to evolve from competition to symbiosis.
Calling on negotiators for the
global Task Force
With the Paris Agreement Rulebook
finalized at COP29 and the multilateral policy cycle fully operational, it will
be essential, from SB62 through COP30, to consolidate and expand the
institutional and regulatory body collectively achieved under the UNFCCC.
In the run-up to SB62, the COP30
Presidency is working closely with the COP29 Presidency and the Chairs of the
Subsidiary Bodies, with the support of the UNFCCC Secretariat, to ensure that
the SB62 meetings deliver concrete outcomes that can be taken to COP30 for
formal adoption, while ensuring inclusiveness and transparency. It is time to
focus the negotiations on re-establishing and improving our process, rebuilding
a global infrastructure of trust to accelerate and scale up
results.
The credibility of the
multilateral process lies in the hands of the negotiators in Bonn.
We invite all negotiators to act
as co-builders of this global infrastructure of trust. Working together as a
task force, negotiators can ensure significant progress on SB62 in June. Making
progress in Bonn on issues that would otherwise have been left for COP can help
avoid the risks and tensions that have eroded mutual trust year after year. The
COP30 Presidency calls on negotiators to change the tone in Bonn, avoiding
zero-sum confrontation at all costs and favoring an approach of empathy and
solidarity, in order to complement each other. Instead of conflict and impasse,
mutual listening will allow us to leverage the diversity of perspectives to
achieve sophistication in both collaboration and results.
At SB62, we will seek to promote
early and sustained engagement of Heads of Delegation (HoDs), starting with a
“day zero” of informal talks the day before the official opening of the
sessions. We invite HoDs to engage in substantive and constructive exchanges
that will provide momentum for progress on outstanding negotiation issues.
Particular priority will be given to: (i) the Global Adaptation Goal (GGA)
indicators under the UAE–Bethlehem Work Programme, (ii) the UAE Dialogue on
Implementation of GST Outcomes, and (iii) the Just Transition Work Programme
(JTWP). Additional information on “day zero” will be communicated to the
Parties by the secretariat.
The true measure of SB62’s
success will not be in tactics, but in our collective ability to communicate
meaningful progress to the people we serve. The abstraction of our work needs
to start to resonate in concrete experience. Legitimacy will come from real-world
relevance and delivery of results.
It would be a huge waste if the
first formal negotiating space of the year—the subsidiary bodies in June—were
taken over by procrastination or postponement of decisions. Failure to make
progress on agreed mandates will further erode confidence in the ability of the
multilateral process to deliver the results that humanity needs.
Results that match the
challenges
Given the climate urgency, it is
essential that all negotiating tracks produce results that are up to the
challenge, in order to connect climate ambition with people’s everyday reality.
As a cross-cutting axis, the essential link between climate and sustainable
development must permeate all areas. Climate policy will only be effective if
it promotes socio-economic transformations. The eradication and reduction of
poverty, the reduction of inequalities within and between countries, and equity
and justice for the most vulnerable must underpin all work streams and
negotiating tracks in the COP bodies. All agendas matter when the future is at
stake.
Indigenous Peoples and local
communities are essential allies in the global response to climate change,
building on generations of knowledge and care for nature. As we approach COP30,
the Brazilian Presidency highlights the importance of further strengthening
effective participation in the Platform of Local Communities and Indigenous
Peoples. We emphasize the relevance of intensifying efforts to expand the
inclusive engagement of local communities in the Platform’s activities and
related processes, building on previous decisions and taking inclusive climate
governance to new heights.
Adaptation, the central theme of
our June meeting, is the visible face of the global response to climate change
and a key pillar for aligning climate action with sustainable development. With
the spirit of a task force and political will, our focus will be on delivering
tangible benefits for societies, ecosystems and economies through the
advancement and completion of the key mandates of this agenda – especially the
Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). There is
a window of opportunity to define a robust framework for monitoring collective
progress on adaptation. This milestone will also lay the foundation for the
future of the adaptation agenda. Meanwhile, NAPs are evolving beyond planning
to become valuable implementation and resource mobilization tools,
incorporating risk management, vulnerability reduction and increased adaptive
capacities into local and global actions. In this sense, we hope that all
countries will present their NAPs before COP30 and use them as strategic guides
to build resilience in the years to come.
In view of the adverse impacts of
climate change, which are increasing in frequency and intensity worldwide, we
must strengthen the institutionalization and interconnection between the three
dimensions of loss and damage in the UNFCCC — the Warsaw Mechanism Executive
Committee, the Santiago Network and the Loss and Damage Response Fund — while
completing the review of the Warsaw Mechanism.
The outcome of the first Global
Stocktake has given the world a blueprint for shifting the climate trajectory
towards a 1.5°C-aligned future, in a resilient scenario that protects future
generations. The UAE Dialogue on implementing the GST outcomes can provide a
platform to foster cooperation and ambition. Building on the debate already
initiated in Baku, we should seek to launch the Dialogue and support global
progress on all the urgent calls made on the GST, especially those with a
deadline in this critical decade.
Another pending issue in
multilateral talks that should receive significant momentum this year is the
Just Transition Work Programme, a dynamic concept of fundamental relevance to
people’s lives. We must build on the discussions held at COP29 and demonstrate
ambition to define the scope and focus of this powerful concept.
The growing calls from political
leaders around the world for a stronger multilateralism will soon be put to the
test at SB62. The COP30 Presidency calls on all delegates, groups and
observers, civil society representatives, academics and scientists to join
forces and pave the way for bold and meaningful decisions across all work
tracks. While only a few are mentioned in this letter, I would like to make it
clear that all mandates are relevant and all substantive topics under
discussion are important for COP30: Climate Finance; Sharm el-Sheikh Work
Programme for Mitigation Ambition and Implementation; Transparency; Gender
Action Plan; Response Measures; Technology Deployment Programme; Capacity
Building; Action for Climate Empowerment; and Arrangements for
Intergovernmental Meetings. Strengthening the operational capacity of the
UNFCCC Secretariat, through the provision of adequate means, is also a common
responsibility of all Parties.
The COPs we want
Recognizing growing calls for
change at COPs, the COP30 Presidency invites all Parties to reflect on the
future of the process itself. As Parties move from a negotiation-centric to an
implementation-centric era, they may wish to intensify their consideration at
SB62 of approaches and initiatives to “increase the efficiency of the process
with a view to increasing ambition and implementation.” Under the leadership of
the SBI Chair, this ongoing work could address issues already identified, such
as the excessive number of items on the provisional agendas of COPs and SBs;
overlapping topics; time and space constraints for negotiations; and obstacles
to the effective participation of small delegations—issues that also put
pressure on secretariat resources.
Until these issues are resolved,
it would be desirable for Parties to avoid proposing new, potentially
controversial agenda items that would further burden the process or undermine
agreed priorities.
Looking ahead, the next COPs can
represent a new generation of climate conferences: not as isolated diplomatic
events, but as systemic platforms to accelerate results, measure progress and
engage a broader ecosystem of actors. They should be conceived as points of
convergence – where ambition meets alignment and global decisions trigger local
transformations.
In responding to the climate
urgency, COP30 can be that turning point – the moment when we move beyond the
status quo and move boldly towards a future defined by results, solidarity and
shared purpose. Together.
André Aranha Correa do Lago
President-Designate of COP30
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