A mitigation marathon, a mutirão of ideas and a maze of multilateralism. But as the sun set over Belém, and the final gavel fell after two weeks of negotiations on the climate crisis, the world asked: did COP30 move us any closer to a safer, fairer, future?
This COP, hosted for the first time on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, carried enormous symbolic and political weight. It was billed by many as the “implementation COP” – a chance to turn the promises of the Paris Agreement and 2023’s Global Stocktake into real action. So, what did we achieve?
New, stronger climate pledges – but a lot more to do
Ahead of COP30, all countries were expected to put forward a new or updated climate plan – known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – showing how they will help keep global warming limited to well below 2°C, and pursue efforts to keep it to 1.5°C.
Just before COP30 began, the EU confirmed its new NDC: a commitment to cut 66.25% to 72.5% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2035 (compared to 1990 levels), grounded in its newly adopted 2040 target of 90% net GHG emissions reduction, marking a clear path to climate neutrality by 2050.
Several major economies, including Brazil, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, also stepped up and submitted stronger climate plans in the run-up to COP30. But some of the world’s biggest emitters are still finalising their plans, or have announced targets that fall well short of what science says is needed.
Taken together, these new pledges move the world closer to a pathway compatible with the Paris Agreement goals, but more is still needed.
Ahead of COP30, the latest update to the UNFCCC’s 2025 Synthesis Report stated that 113 Parties submitted new or updated NDCs covering nearly 80% of global emissions. Their combined efforts would reduce emissions to about 12% below 2019 levels by 2035. And by the end of the Conference, over 122 Parties had submitted NDCs to the UNFCCC, a significant step towards shaping a new climate economy.
For comparison: without the Paris Agreement, global emissions were expected to rise 20–48% above 2019 levels by 2035.
This shows two things clearly:
- The Paris Agreement is working – it has bent the global emissions curve.
- But the world is not yet where it needs to be.
Turning adaptation commitments into real results
Adaptation to climate change was a top priority this year in Belém. Countries built on the new global climate finance goal agreed at COP29 in Baku (the New Collective Quantified Goal or NCQG), which aims to scale up support for developing countries. Its aim is to mobilise at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035 in finance from public sources, as part of a total of USD 1.3 trillion per year from all sources, public and private.
In Belém, developing countries called for much more support for adaptation. Projects that protect lives in the face of climate change — for example, building flood defences or drought-resistant water systems — have historically struggled to attract as much private funding as projects that reduce emissions – for example, energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
The EU believes that a bigger share of climate finance must go to adaptation, and there are emerging business opportunities for European companies in adaptation services, product and technologies.
Ultimately, Parties agreed to call for efforts to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035 within the NCQG – one of the steps towards closing the adaptation gap.
The EU and its Member States remain the world’s largest provider of climate finance, delivering EUR 31.7 billion in 2024, about half of which supports adaptation and resilience.
Countries also worked on adaptation indicators – a list of ways to measure whether adaptation efforts are actually making communities safer, helping track real-world progress.
Phasing out fossil fuels – and scaling up renewables
As COP entered its second week, calls grew louder for strong language on transitioning away from fossil fuels, echoing the direction already set in the Global Stocktake at COP28 in Dubai.
Against this backdrop, the concept of the mutirão — a Brazilian term for collective, community-driven effort — gained prominence. It reflects a simple truth: only a coordinated global push can deliver the scale and speed of change needed this decade.
For the EU, this transition is not abstract — it is already happening at home. The EU has legally committed to climate neutrality by 2050, a pathway that requires a rapid reduction in fossil fuel use and an acceleration of the clean transition. Over the past decade, the EU has more than halved its coal consumption, sharply reduced its reliance on fossil gas, and massively expanded renewable energy, which reached record levels in 2024.
EU legislation already sets ambitious targets to increase the use of renewable energy sources and improve energy efficiency. Most of the electricity produced in the EU now comes from clean energy sources. The EU electricity mix counted 47% renewables already in 2024. Final energy consumption keeps going down, with a 3% decrease compared to 2022 mainly in the residential sector, followed by industry and services.
Through the Green Deal, the Fit for 55 package and REPowerEU, Europe is demonstrating that a managed fossil-fuel transition is achievable — and that it can strengthen energy security, cut costs for citizens, and create modern industrial opportunities.
At COP30, the EU recommitted to continue delivering on the COP28 pledges to transition away from fossil fuels, triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030, as agreed in Dubai. During the conference, a coalition of more than 80 willing countries, including the EU and its Member States, launched a partnership to transition away from fossil fuels under Brazil’s leadership. The EU urged all major emitters to commit to the same direction of travel, consistent with science and supported by just-transition measures that leave no one behind.
Putting people and participation at the heart of the transition
A key outcome of COP30 was renewed attention to the social dimension of climate action. The EU supported a Just Transition Action Plan that puts people at the centre and ensures that those most affected are involved from the very beginning. For the EU, meaningful social dialogue is essential to designing transition pathways that are fair and effective.
The final text gavelled through at the closing plenary included the establishment of a Just Transition Mechanism, which could – and should – support the protection of workers and communities as countries shift to clean energy and a climate-resilient future.
This commitment to broad participation was also reflected in the EU delegation’s outreach in Belém. Throughout the COP, the Commissioner and EU negotiators met with youth groups, Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, labour representatives, civil society networks and a wide range of stakeholders. These conversations helped bring forward a diverse set of perspectives, reflecting the EU’s belief that pluralistic, democratic engagement is key to building trust and delivering a transition that leaves no one behind.
Beyond the negotiations, COP30 also saw the launch and strengthening of several important initiatives. The EU together with Brazil and other key partners supported the establishment of an Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets, a new global effort to improve the effectiveness of carbon pricing and markets mechanisms — helping countries and companies to cut emissions more efficiently while avoiding greenwashing.
On forest protection, the EU endorsed the Declaration on the Launch of the initiative on the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, a global innovative funding mechanism that rewards the conservation of tropical forests. The Commission also signed the Belém Call to Action for the Congo Basin Forests, renewing its COP26 commitment to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 in this region.
The EU also rallied a broad coalition of governments and organisations behind a renewed call for gender equality and inclusive climate action, highlighting that women and girls are often on the frontline of climate impacts and must be central to decision-making. As a result, COP30 saw the adoption of a new Belém Gender Action Plan that included priority areas for action over the next years.
Looking ahead
While COP30 may not have made as much progress as we would like, and the outcome leaves a lot to be desired for many countries, it has shown that multilateralism can still deliver results and progress, even in the absence of the United States.
“Climate change is a global problem that requires a collective response. And even though last week was chaotic and messy, we moved in the right direction. But make no mistake: the EU had hoped for more. This is not about saving the planet. It’s about recognising the harsh realities of climate change and its skyrocketing social, economic, and ecological costs”, said European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, Wopke Hoekstra, about the outcome.
The decisions taken in Belém mark a new phase: from promises to real-world implementation – the next step in the global fight against climate change.
We leave Belém with hope, but also with homework. The world urgently needs more climate action.
