Perspectives at COP30

COP30, taking place in Belém, Brazil, from 10–21 November 2025, is putting a spotlight on tropical forestry issues as it will be hosted in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Preceded by the Belém Climate Summit (6–7 November), this COP is situated at a crossroads of rule-making to implementation under the Paris Agreement. It will not be a “high-stakes” COP as the only formal deadline relates to agreeing on a set of indicators to operationalise the Global Goal for Adaptation.

Regarding the implementation of international carbon markets under Article 6, discussions will centre on how to ensure financing for the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism and accelerate its work on baseline and monitoring methodologies. Concerning forestry, Brazil is expected to play a leading role through initiatives such as the Tropical Forests Forever Fund. Discussions will become heated regarding the growing ambition gap, as only a few countries have updated their NDCs, and the interpretation of the relevance of the Global Stocktake for national mitigation targets and policies.

Our experts in Belém

Perspectives’ delegation, which this year consists of Axel Michaelowa, Sherri Ombuya, Stephan Hoch, and is led by Chido Muzondo, is proud to speak at many side events on key topics, including how carbon markets can accelerate carbon removals, how rice field methane reduction can be harnessed under Article 6.4, how ASEAN’s low-carbon transition can be strengthened, and climate co-benefits of actions on plastic avoidance and forestry.
Visit our dedicated COP30 webpage to monitor our presence at COP30 and learn where to find us.

Senior Founding Partner Axel Michaelowa states:

“COP30 is held against a challenging background. Support of the population for climate policy is waning, and open climate scepticism is re-emerging, particularly on the right wing of the political spectrum. Stalwarts of international climate policy like the EU are vacillating and unable to commit to ambitious mitigation. Financial institutions and private companies are backtracking on voluntary mitigation pledges. Many argue that COPs are outdated and should be discontinued.

Yet COP30 also holds promise. For the first time in four years, COP is hosted by a real democracy. The Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism is “coming of age” and now operational. Innovative forest financing approaches will be operationalised. And the joyful atmosphere of a tropical city under the Equator could help lift the spirit we need to defy the prevailing dark mood and demonstrate that multilateralism works in international climate policy!”

Join our traditional post-COP webinar

To help us all make sense of what’s decided once the conference wraps up, we’re planning a webinar that will summarize the key outcomes, covering finance, adaptation, and market mechanisms, and what they mean for global climate action.

• Clear overview: The main decisions from COP30 explained.
• Expert perspectives: insights on how these outcomes could influence future strategies.
• Practical implications: What this means for our work and next steps.