COP30: Hoped for Outcomes

Welcome to our 3^rd in a series of four communications that we hope will support your participation in the of the Conference of the Parties, COP 30. This entry focuses on hoped for outcomes from COP 30.

Before we take a look at hoped for options we are going to spend a little time looking at the expected outcomes. Because there will be such a focus on concrete action at COP 30 one of the expected outcomes is that global climate commitments will be turned into concrete, large-scale action. Another expected outcome relates to the location of COP 30. Because it is taking place at the mouth of the Amazon River, the epicenter of the climate crisis, a strong focus on the protecting the forest and biodiversity is expected.

At the top of the list of hoped for outcome by the Brazilian COP 30 planning team relates to ‘mutirão’*. This is a Portuguese word for a collective effort to achieve a common goal. (To learn more about the global ‘mutirão’ go to: https://cop30.br/en/news-about-cop30/global-mutirao-the-cop30-aims-to-go-beyond-negotiations-to-heal-the-planet) For them this translates to specific major hopes for the conference. These include:

To shift the conference’s focus from making new pledges to delivering on existing ones;
Building on COP 30s location, in the Amazon, there is hope that a Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) is established to mobilize private capital for forest protection and expansion;
There is hope that a culture of radical collaboration will be created and include all stakeholders including indigenous and frontline communities, cities, and the private sector;
Hope is also alive that COP 30 will prove that in this fractured world that international climate diplomacy is still possible;
Hope is also building that a new, climate-conscious industrial revolution that aligns global financial flows with climate action through the combination of digital and climate transitions could come about;

Some have identified the final hope that we will mention as the best hope for COP 30.

This hope came out of a series of six regional dialogues and global discussions that took place over the past six months. A central question in these conversations was: “If we already know what needs to be done to address the climate crisis, why aren’t we doing it?” The process aims to complement the technical Global Stocktake GST (we talked about this in an earlier message). Instead of a technical focus, it uses a values-based process that elevates ethics, justice, and equity. Marina Silva conceived this process. Brazil’s COP Presidency and the UN Secretary General have jointly led this initiative.

Participant were a broad base of people who were invited to participate and included Indigenous and Frontline communities, youth, scientists, artist and many others. The purpose of these conversations was to place justice and ethical reflection at the heart of the climate response. Participants had the opportunity, during the discussions, “to reflect on the values, behaviors, and responsibilities that must be transformed so that the commitments made at COP 30 become a reality.” The goal of this process is to deliver a set of civil society contributions at COP 30 official events to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement and limit the increase in the planet’s average temperature.

*“cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity”