In the heart of the Amazon, the city of Belém, Brazil, became the unlikely stage for what was billed as a historic United Nations climate summit—COP30—in November 2025. Ten years after the Paris Agreement was inked, delegates from more than 190 countries descended on this rainforest city, their hopes buoyed by the promise of bold action and the symbolism of meeting at the edge of the world’s most vital carbon sink. Yet, as the final gavel fell, the sense of missed opportunity hung in the humid air, with many participants and observers left wondering if the world’s climate ambitions had just stalled at the very moment they were needed most.
The lead-up to COP30 was marked by anticipation and logistical headaches. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, fresh off his 2022 election victory, had insisted the summit be hosted in the Amazon, seeing it as a chance to highlight both the region’s vulnerability and its central role in the fight against climate change, according to Carbon Brief. Despite concerns over Belém’s capacity to house the event’s 56,000 registered delegates, Lula pressed on, even quipping, “If you don’t have a four-star hotel, sleep in a three-star hotel. If you don’t have a three-star hotel, sleep [under the] stars in the sky, which will be wonderful…They have to know how much a carapanã [a common mosquito in the Amazon] bite hurts.”
The summit’s opening days were marked by rousing speeches and high hopes. Lula called for “roadmaps” away from both deforestation and fossil fuels, a message that resonated with the more than 80 nations that rallied behind demands for a detailed plan to sharply reduce the use of gas, oil, and coal. The symbolism was powerful: the Amazon, home to countless Indigenous communities and a critical regulator of the global climate, was to be the place where the world might finally turn the page on fossil fuels.
But as the days wore on, it became clear that consensus would be hard to come by. The final package, dubbed the “global mutirão”—a Portuguese word for collective efforts—was released by the Brazilian presidency after marathon negotiations and even a fire evacuation that disrupted talks. According to Carbon Brief, the mutirão text called for a tripling of adaptation finance by 2035 and launched new voluntary initiatives to strengthen climate targets. Yet, crucially, it omitted any binding language on fossil fuel phaseout or a timeline to reduce their use.
“In signing the Belém Declaration, a critical mass of nations have acknowledged that the legally binding international commitment to limit warming to 1.5C means no new fossil fuels,” said Greenpeace Chief Executive David Ritter, who attended the conference. But the official UN outcome fell short of such clarity.
Instead, the summit’s most ambitious language was relegated to statements outside the formal UN process. More than 80 countries, including Australia, signed the Belém Declaration, which calls for a roadmap to end the world’s reliance on coal, gas, and oil. Australia’s recommitment to the Paris Agreement, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s signature at the concurrent G20 summit in South Africa, was another symbolic gesture, especially as the United States, under President Donald Trump, continued to reject the Paris accord. Trump’s absence from the G20 and the climate talks, and a White House official’s characterization of the G20 declaration as “shameful,” underscored deepening rifts in global climate leadership, as reported by Reuters.
Inside COP30’s negotiation halls, the mood was often tense. The summit faced its share of drama: logistical chaos from faulty air conditioning, water leaks, and flooding, and a security scare when Indigenous protesters forced their way into the “blue zone,” clashing with security staff. The incident highlighted ongoing frustrations among Indigenous groups over limited access and representation in climate negotiations, according to Carbon Brief and Reuters.
The Brazilian presidency, led by diplomat André Corrêa do Lago, tried to steer the summit through these storms. Consultations on contentious topics—trade measures, climate finance, ambitions to keep warming to 1.5C, and data transparency—dominated the agenda. Yet, the final “mutirão” text disappointed many. While it “calls for” efforts to triple adaptation finance, it lacks a clear baseline year and pushes the deadline back to 2035, five years later than some countries had hoped. The world’s most vulnerable nations—least-developed countries, small island states, and African nations—had pressed for more urgent action, but their proposals were watered down in the face of resistance from wealthier and major fossil fuel-producing countries.
On the adaptation front, the summit did agree on a reduced set of indicators to measure progress, and a two-year “Belém-Addis vision” was launched to further refine these metrics. Yet, as Bethan Laughlin of the Zoological Society of London noted, “the massive elephant in the room is the lack of adaptation finance,” a gap that remains far from being closed.
Perhaps the most glaring omission was the absence of any binding commitment to phase out fossil fuels. The final mutirão text did not mention fossil fuels at all, nor did it establish a timeline for their reduction. Instead, the presidency promised to bring forward two “roadmaps”—one for transitioning away from fossil fuels and another for reversing deforestation—at the next COP, to be guided by an upcoming conference hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands. For many, including the European Union and small island states, this was a “missed opportunity.”
Nevertheless, the summit did break new ground in some areas. For the first time, trade measures were explicitly mentioned in a COP cover decision, with annual dialogues on climate-related trade issues scheduled for the next three years. A just transition “mechanism” was also established, a move hailed by civil society groups as a victory for climate justice, though some elements of the text were ultimately watered down.
Australia’s role at COP30 was notable. The country joined the Belém Declaration and will co-host COP31 with Turkey next year, with Energy Minister Chris Bowen serving as the president of negotiations. Bowen’s dual role drew criticism from the Australian opposition, who argued that he should focus on domestic energy prices, but Trade Minister Don Farrell defended the appointment, telling Sky News, “Having Chris at the helm of the international consideration of how we get to net zero is a good thing for Australia.”
The summit’s legacy is likely to be mixed. As the Associated Press put it, COP30 “will likely further erode confidence in a process that many environmentalists and even some world leaders have argued isn’t up to the challenge of confronting global temperature rise.” The world remains on track for 2.3–2.5°C of warming by 2100, far above the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal, and the gap between ambition and action appears as wide as ever.
Still, amid the disappointment and delays, the seeds of progress were sown. The voluntary roadmaps, new adaptation finance targets, and mechanisms for just transition may yet bear fruit—if countries muster the political will to follow through. For now, the Amazon’s canopy stands as both a symbol of hope and a stark reminder of the work that remains undone.
