“This has been a disappointing COP meeting.  Once again we have seen watered down statements off the back of intense lobbying from the fossil fuel industry and fossil fuel rich nations. Climate change is causing costly damage to vulnerable communities.  We need to urgently fix the problem.”

"The outcome of COP30 in Belém provides continuity for the UN climate process but only limited progress on establishing clear, enforceable obligations for accelerating global climate action. Many obligations are “urges” or “calls for efforts” rather than “shall” or binding commitments. Also, there is no mention of fossil fuels in the formal decision text, which means there is no formal obligation or binding roadmap for phasing out or even meaningfully reducing fossil fuels. This exacerbates the existing gap in enforceability and coherence due to the lack of a link between issues such as deforestation or biodiversity loss and climate change in the text.  Organised in the Amazon, COP30 presented a clear opportunity to connect biodiversity conservation, forest protection and climate mitigation and adaptation.  However, the roadmap to end deforestation was removed from the main text, which was already entangled with fossil fuel roadmap issues.  Instead, it was launched as a separate voluntary initiative.

Some positive highlights were the commitment to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035 and the recognition of a just transition mechanism (JTM) in the text. This emphasises rights, equity, workers, Indigenous peoples, and biodiversity-linked transitions. As COP30 has concluded, there is again this paradox: a headline agreement has been reached reinforcing multilateral climate cooperation, but the agreement leaves big enforcement questions. The coming year will determine whether countries including Australia will translate these commitments into practical action."

“To me, COP30 keeps the door open, but it did not slam it all the way shut on business-as-usual. The real test will be how governments, industry and investors mobilise in 2026 and beyond.

COP30’s final Mutirão decision offers a mixture of needed clarity and lingering gaps. It is positive that Parties reaffirmed the Paris temperature goal (including pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5 °C and minimising any overshoot) and placed renewed emphasis on adaptation and support for vulnerable countries. This matters because it signals that science-based thresholds remain the anchor for global action. For those of us working on the green-industrial transition, such as hydrogen-based iron and steelmaking, the stronger focus on implementation, infrastructure and transition pathways is welcome, even if the overall outcome still reflects both forward momentum and missed opportunities.

On the downside, the summit fell short of securing a concrete roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, a key gap given the urgency of industrial decarbonisation. Without binding agreements to shift away from coal, oil and gas, ambitions around hydrogen, green iron and green ammonia risk being undermined by a lack of transformational momentum.

In my view, the next crucial step is to translate the adaptation-finance pledges and infrastructure frameworks into accelerated industrial deployment: first-of-a-kind green iron projects, scaled hydrogen production and supply-chain investments. If COP30 has given us anything, it’s a reaffirmation that the fight is still live, but now the clock is ticking. The science is clear: deployment at industrial scale must ramp up in this decade."

"COP30 delivered some meaningful steps forward, particularly on the adaptation front. The decision to significantly scale up adaptation finance and strengthen the new Climate Finance Work Program is an important outcome. Many climate-vulnerable countries have been calling for predictable, long-term support, and this COP finally produced clearer commitments and a framework that could help turn pledges into actual delivery. If implemented effectively, these measures will improve resilience planning, disaster preparedness, and the capacity of developing nations to cope with escalating climate impacts.

However, progress on mitigation was noticeably weaker and negotiators again fell short of agreeing to a concrete pathway for phasing out fossil fuels. This reflects a broader reality: despite three decades of global climate negotiations since the first COP in 1995, global CO₂ emissions have risen by more than 50% over the past 25 years, and many economies remain deeply dependent on coal, oil, and gas for growth and employment. While the final text acknowledges the need for accelerated action, it offers little that would materially bend the global emissions curve in the near term.

As a result, COP30 sends mixed signals—promising steps on adaptation, but insufficient momentum on the urgent task of reducing fossil fuel use."

"It's hard not to feel disappointed. Another COP goes by and we're not seeing the necessary commitments to greatly reduce fossil fuel emissions. Even while there is recognition of the need to reduce emissions, many countries, Australia included, are expanding fossil fuel projects. Every tonne of greenhouse gases emitted adds to global warming and increases the scale of the climate crisis. We remain on a path of high emissions and worsening climate impacts."

"At this COP, the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) was a major negotiation item, with many different suggestions on what should be included, and which indicators for adaptation were going to be acceptable to all the Parties. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of Parties to the Paris Agreement(CMA), considered close to 100 indicators, discussed them, and produced a revised list that is forward looking.

This list is in line with the needs of the Global Stocktake (GST) in assessing the gap between the current state of adaptation and a future desirable state. The proposal includes an Annex with 59 indicators that build on the UAE-Belem technical work program on adaptation indicators. These indicators collectively cover 11 targets of the GGA, including water, food, health, ecosystems and biodiversity, infrastructure and human settlements, poverty reduction and livelihoods, and cultural heritage, and matters relating to assessing, planning, implementing, and monitoring climate adaptation.

The adoption of these indicators is a major outcome as it sets, for the first time ever, clear benchmarks on how to evaluate global progress on adaptation."

"COP30 left the core issue of climate change largely untouched: stringent pledges to phase out fossil fuels at a rapid pace.

Despite the growing global consensus that a low-carbon transition is inevitable, many of the world’s largest fossil-fuel producing nations oppose a phase out. The final agreement omitted explicit language on phasing out coal, oil and gas, which is a clear signal that major producers retain considerable influence.

More than 80 countries had called for a roadmap to accelerate the shift away from coal, oil and gas, but this was blocked by major producer nations. As a result, transition risk for carbon-dependent firms remains high because policy direction is still uncertain.

For business and finance, the signal is mixed: adaptation and resilience efforts will attract increasing investment, while the pace and direction of the low carbon transition remain contested.

Governments agreed to triple international funding for adaptation, but this remains well below what vulnerable communities require to cope with escalating climate risks. The agreement to establish a just transition mechanism is a positive acknowledgement.

Science is clear that without decisive action on fossil fuels, adaptation alone cannot prevent mounting economic losses and severe social disruption. COP30 keeps the process alive but the pace is still too slow for a safe climate future.  The hope is that the the transition can be accelerated at local levels – with private capital, households and communities shifting away from high-carbon assets."

"COP30.  Clock the 30 in its name - a full 30 years of annual talks tracking a global crisis that pits our economic systems against the very real boundaries of the planet.  Of all nine boundaries specified by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, we have surpassed seven, three of the most urgent being climate change, species extinction and pollution.  Compare the lack of action at COP over the first 30 years to the incredible global cooperation attained in response to the hole in the ozone layer.  Discovered in 1985, the world agreed on action on ozone within four years - the Montreal Protocol of 1989 was lauded as a signal to the world that we could collectively, as a species, respond to global threats with vigour and wisdom.

Not so in 2025, when COP30 spurred vigorous opposition to action from 80 petrochemical states emboldened by Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.. Multiple recent surveys of IPCC scientists demonstrate consensus on at least 3 degrees' anomalous increase by 2100, although we and many others carefully watch models that suggest we could hit 4 degrees by 2040.  This would, according to the global reinsurance industry, collapse the entire economic system.  COP30 has at least agreed to triple adaptation funds and urge nations to voluntarily manage the transition away from fossil fuels.  This won't be enough.  We need rapid mitigation as well as adaptation."

"The headline from the UN climate talks is clear: countries failed to agree on concrete action to phase out fossil fuels. The ‘Amazon COP’ also fell short on forests. For two weeks, negotiations over a ‘Forest Roadmap’—intended to close the growing gap between global goals to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030 and the weak commitments from countries—were at the centre of a major stand-off.

With no real outcome on forests from the negotiations, Brazil has now announced its own Forest Roadmap as COP President. It remains to be seen whether this will gain traction and bring all forest-loss countries, including those facing degradation from industrial logging, to the table."

"COP30 has finished up in Belem with no new fossil-fuel commitments, a weakening of measuring adaptation progress, and pushing out the ambition for adaptation funding to 5 years beyond what was previously agreed (now 2035).

In more promising outcomes, countries will have the first-ever international conference on fossil fuel phase out in April, 2026, an attempt to restore some sense of a ‘roadmap’ to this critical issue. Next year’s COP will be an intriguing display of diplomatic nous, given the unusual hosting of the COP in Turkey, with Australia to take on the role of ‘President of Negotiations’. Given the typical challenge of one country running the entirety of a COP process, splitting up these roles does not bode well for heightened ambition and consensus-making. But who knows!!

The climate crisis is a health crisis - every day we see this playing out, whether through death and injury from cyclones, or floods or heat —  and until we see a greater coming together of countries within these tricky multilateral processes we are going to continue to see the death toll rise, with those from the global majority taking the hit. "

"COP30, the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Brazil, represented a step forward in global climate governance. It was the first climate summit to formally acknowledge that the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement will not be achieved. Although stark, this recognition created a more honest and constructive negotiation environment. By accepting that current efforts are insufficient, the focus shifted from aspirational rhetoric toward realistic implementation, resulting in a more grounded and solutions-oriented summit.

Hosting COP30 in Belém at the heart of the Amazon placed ecosystems, Indigenous stewardship and biodiversity at the centre of the global agenda. It highlighted that effective climate action depends on integrating environmental, social and economic considerations. This perspective broadened the scope of negotiation and encouraged parties to pursue climate strategies that deliver benefits for nature as well as sustainable development."

Full comment available here

"It was great to see that the climate funding goal has tripled, as that will help accelerate climate change adaptation. I was disappointed on the lack of detail about phasing out fossil fuels. It is unequivocal that fossil fuels underpin the climate crisis, yet their use continues, and in many nations is increasing.

The $120 billion COP30 pledge for climate change adaptation is a teaspoon in the ocean of $7 trillion subsidies that fossil fuel industries receive each year. Surely diverting some of these subsidies would help reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and encourage climate resilience?"

"This COP on the edge of the Amazon showed that international climate cooperation lives on, even without the US. It dealt with all the hard, real-world challenges of implementation - fossil fuels, finance, just transition and trade - and on some took only small steps, not aligned with the urgency the science and humanity needs. But in a rapidly warming world, every issue is a climate issue and in dealing with them collectively COP30 saw that the world mostly remains in the same tent, even one that is flooded, fire-affected, hot and chaotic."

"There is room for improvement and much more urgent action needed to keep 1.5 within reach.

This COP is weak on mitigation ambition. The Mitigation Work programme decision, in particular is weak. Particular groups also worked to prevent any reference to the Global Stocktake, and the Global Stocktake energy package (paragraph 28 of the GST decision text) that includes commitments to transition away from fossil fuels and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

It was important to get an outcome at this COP, and at this moment in multilateralism. Particularly given the United States recent decision to exit the Paris Agreement for a second time. The remaining 194 States who are Parties to the Paris Agreement needed to ensure that there was an outcome.

The outcome on Just Transition is good. The statement by the Brazil COP President on his announcement of a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels is also a welcome announcement. But we need to be able to discuss these issues of fossil fuel transition and the GST within the negotiation rooms, and this means a discussion of the GST and the GST energy package.

Looking ahead I welcome the Turkey/Australia Presidency Agreement and I look forward to COP31 delivering on mitigation ambition. The top priority for the Vanuatu and the Pacific will be keeping 1.5 Alive."

“I've been going to COPs for a decade, but this was by far the most difficult one. Not only did we face floods, fires, and extreme heat, the geopolitics was really stacked against us in Brazil. In that context, the outcomes from COP30 still managed to build powerful momentum on the need to phase out fossil fuels, with over 80 countries supporting a global roadmap to transition away from fossil fuel.

The COP30 outcomes are a sign that we are moving away from negotiating global consensus statements - which often end up with the lowest common denominator - and instead are moving into the implementation phase of the Paris Agreement.

Australia and Türkiye now have a big job ahead of them; they will have to shepherd a growing 'coalition of the willing' ready to rapidly phase out fossil fuels, while navigating the growing tension between those countries that are scaling up renewables and those that remain deeply dependent on the fossil fuel economy."

"COP30 has unequivocally declared that "Education is at the core of climate resilience.” Climate change education is not merely a priority; it stands as the greatest moral imperative of the 21st century. This revelation isn’t new. The United Nations has long advocated for environmental, sustainability, and climate change education as crucial solutions to the pressing threat of anthropogenic climate change. Yet, amid these bold international declarations, we face a stark reality: the courage to actualise these ideals at the national level is glaringly absent.

This dilemma brings us back to a fundamental question: What is education for? In education systems driven by capitalist ideals, climate change education is frequently relegated to the bottom of the priority list.  What we need is not just a minor adjustment; humanity demands nothing less than a radical transformation of our educational frameworks. It is time to rise to the challenge and courageously redefine education.  As Angela Davis once said we can ‘no longer accept the things’ we cannot change. We must change ‘the things we cannot accept.’"

“Australia’s leadership critical in 2026 to safeguard health and survival under 1.5 degrees with a disappointing end to the “implementation COP” in Belém".

Climate adaptation finance

“Amid extreme heat, floods and a fire, delegates experienced life on the equator under climate and health stress. While the COP30 agreement to triple adaptation finance by 2035 is a positive step, pushing out the delivery date compared to the 2030 timeline requested by developing countries means many more people will suffer as healthcare systems, homes and livelihoods are pushed to the limit”.

Fossil fuel transition

“We were buoyed to see Australia join 80 countries to support a Fossil Fuel Phase Out Roadmap and 23 countries to support Columbia’s proposal for the Belem Declaration on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels. The declaration reaffirms determination to work collectively towards a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels, aligned with pathways consistent with limiting the temperature rise to 1.5.

Australia will play an important role in 2026 to bring these commitments to the COP negotiating table. Governments urgently need to phase out fossil fuels - the primary driver of climate change - to avoid irreversible tipping points and to safeguard health. Australia is extremely vulnerable to climate impacts, our health systems are not prepared for current and future shocks and stressors and our Pacific neighbours need a fossil fuel phase out to ensure their survival”.

Just Transition

“We commend positive progress on the just transition work program including a mechanism for implementation with governments recognising the importance of protecting the human right to health and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in just transitions”.