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2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference
30th UN climate conference From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP30, is the upcoming 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025.[1]
The city's candidacy was announced by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during his visit to the COP 27, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt,[1] and made official in January 2023.[2][3]
The BBC reported that the summit has been used as a justification to build a new highway cutting through the rain forest.[4] The COP30's organizers and the state of Pará have denied any direct links.[5][6]
Meanwhile, the United States, under president Trump, have closed their office of climate diplomacy.[7][8]
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Pre-conference
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A series of construction and revitalization works conducted by the local government took place aiming to improve the city's infrastructure with sustainable techniques. A new square was made surrounding one of the city's main avenues, as well as the sewage and the anti-flooding systems were stepped up.[9][10]
In January 2025, President Lula appointed Brazilian diplomat André Corrêa do Lago as the COP's president.[11] The decision was praised by Brazilian climate activists given Lago's history of leading climate justice discussions, among other things.[12] Lago is a veteran diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a longtime climate negotiator.[13]
Organizational Challenges
The preparation for Belém to host COP30 has faced significant challenges, notably an accommodation crisis and controversies surrounding urban infrastructure projects.[14] Broader questions have also been raised regarding pollution, social inequality, and deforestation in the Amazon.[15][16][17]
Months before the event, reports of extreme price gouging for lodging emerged. Some listings on platforms like Airbnb were priced as high as US$9,320 per day, up from a normal rate of $11, while a one-person flat on Booking.com was offered for $15,266 per night.[18] These figures supported claims of widespread real estate speculation, with the Brazilian government itself describing prices as "extremely high and incomprehensible."[19]
In response, the Federal government of Brazil announced measures to curb abusive pricing and stated it would make 26,000 additional lodging beds available, utilizing cruise ships, schools, new hotels, and military facilities.[20] However, a previously announced price-regulating agreement with the hotel industry remained unsigned by July 2025, facing resistance from the sector.[18]
The crisis prompted a strong international reaction, with 27 countries signing a letter demanding solutions and some nations pressuring Brazil to move the event to another city.[21] The high costs remained the primary obstacle for attendees, with a UN survey in August 2025 revealing that only 18 of 147 responding nations had secured accommodation.[22] The situation led delegations, such as Austria's, to cancel their participation and also impacted local tenants, who reported being asked by landlords to vacate their homes to make way for high-paying visitors.[23]
Another point of contention is the construction of a new four-lane highway, Avenida Liberdade. A BBC report in March 2025 described the project as being underway to ease traffic in preparation for COP30.[4] The project has drawn criticism from conservationists and residents for its impact on the Amazon rainforest, biodiversity, and local communities.[24] Official organizers and the state of Pará have disputed the highway's connection to the conference. The organizers called the BBC's headline "misleading," stating the project is not a federal responsibility nor part of the official COP30 infrastructure plan.[5] The state government similarly denied the link, underlining that the project was planned as early as 2020—before Belém was chosen as the host city—and received no federal funds for its execution.[6] However, critics note that while the project has been discussed since 2012, the COP may have provided the final justification to begin construction.[6] The state of Pará had also previously cited the conference as one of the interests served by the project.[25]
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Conference agenda
NDCs
The updated Nationally Determined Contributions, as set out in the Paris Agreement, were to be published by every country by Feb 2025. As of April 2025, only 19 countries submitted theirs.[26]
Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T
Parties at COP29 in Baku agreed for "all actors to work together to enable the scaling up of financing to developing country Parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035”, as the “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T”.[27] Negotiations are expected on how international climate finance is to be scaled from the $300 billion agreed in Baku to the $1.3 trillion.[28]
TFFF
Brazil, the COP30 presidency, intends to launch the Tropical Forest Forever Facility as a signature achievement in Belem.[29] The $125 billion blended-finance investment fund aims to finalise investments from sovereign funders by COP30 to begin payouts to reward forest conservation in tropical countries in 2026.[30]
Further details are expected after the SB 62 conference in Bonn in June 2025.[31]
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References
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