What is COP30 and why does it matter?
What is COP30 and why does it matter?
A one page briefing paper by Rev'd Dr Mike Perry, the Bishop of Salisbury's Adviser on Creation Care and Climate Justice
The 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) meets in Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon, from 6 to 21 November 2025, with a leaders’ summit preceding it. Its timing is strategic because 2025 is the deadline for countries to file their next round of national climate plans under the Paris Agreement. These plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions, (NDCs) must be stronger, economy-wide, and informed by the first Global Stocktake agreed at COP28, which called for a transition away from fossil fuels, a tripling of renewable energy, and faster cuts across every sector. (unfccc.int)
Campaigners want COP30 to be the moment when governments table credible NDCs that bend the emissions curve this decade, set robust 2035 targets, and include implementation pathways that move from rhetoric to delivery. Recent analyses suggest current plans are still far short of what is needed, which is why civil society is pressing for measurable policy actions on coal, oil, and gas, alongside detailed investment plans for clean power, efficiency, and nature protection. (World Resources Institute)
Money to directly help those impacted by climate change is the other key factor in these talks. After COP29 set the “new collective quantified goal” on climate finance for the post-2025 period, COP30 is where countries are expected to connect that figure to practical access for communities on the front line, with more grant-based finance for adaptation, and a scaled Loss and Damage Fund that actually pays out money at speed to rebuild lives after climate disasters. Faith-based agencies such as Tearfund and Christian Aid are focusing on finance that reaches people on the ground, a just transition to renewable energy that protects workers and the poor and accountability so pledges turn into outcomes that reduce poverty as well as emissions. (Chatham House)
With Brazil hosting COP30 in the Amazon, campaigners are also emphasising that forests and the rights of Indigenous peoples need to be safeguarded as part of national plans, not treated as add-ons. Outrage & Optimism, working with the COP30 Presidency on its “Inside COP” series, has framed expectations around ambitious NDCs, collaborative action, and an honest reckoning with what science requires in the 2020s. None of this is about reopening the Paris Agreement. Much has been agreed already. COP30 is about whether governments bring plans and money equal to the task, and whether those plans are delivered in ways that protect people and place.
The Anglican Communion is sending a delegation to COP30. In the run up they are promoting the Communion’s ‘Lungs of the Earth’ campaign.
A prayer for COP30
God of creation and mercy, as nations gather in Belém guide leaders to choose truth over delay and courage over comfort. Strengthen by your Spirit the will to cut emissions, protect forests, and fund adaptation and loss and damage so that communities in poverty may flourish. Give courage to the Indigenous guardians of the Amazon. Inspire your church to pray, to speak, and to live faithfully for the healing of the earth you love. We pray in the name of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all creation is bound together. Amen.
Rev’d Dr Mike Perry
Bishop of Salisbury’s Adviser on Creation Care and Climate Justice
29 October 2025