What do Brazil and the UK want to achieve at COP30?

The Brazilian Ambassador started the discussion by reflecting on Brazil’s history of global climate events from the Rio 1992 Climate Conference to the Rio+20 in 2012. However, for the first time, this conference is being hosted in the Amazon region.

The importance of the Amazon region and its protection has grown in recent years in Brazilian politics, and President Lula has become a strong advocate for forest protection, with a commitment to zero deforestation by 2030. The Ambassador was keen to stress the global importance of this pledge.

The importance of tropical forests will be one of the key themes of COP30. The Brazilian presidency is hoping to achieve the approval and support of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). This is a fund that aims to pay dividends to Tropical Forest Countries that succeed in protecting natural habitats and forest cover in the region. To learn more about this fund, and why it is so important at COP30, read the latest Canning House blog.

The Ambassador celebrated the fact that the UK Prime Minister is attending COP30, and he expressed hope that the UK would commit funding to the TFFF. Furthermore, he celebrated the news that UK has updated their nationally determined contribution (NDC), which is a commitment made by each country to lower greenhouse gas emissions by a particular amount.

The Ambassador explained that previous COPs have been about writing the rule book with which the world seeks to protect the climate. This edition, however, will be about the implementation of policy that will achieve that goal. One of the ways COP30 aims to focus on implementation is via the introduction of the leadership Circles: the Circle of finance ministers, former COP presidents, the people’s circle, and the ethical stock take. These separate committees will act as key levers for decision-making at the upcoming Conference.

Fiona Clouder followed by discussing her role as a UK Regional Ambassador, Latin America and Caribbean at COP26, which was hosted in Glasgow. Reflecting on the importance of COP, she explained that the world is in our hands, and that the climate change situation remains urgent.

In her role, she was a part of the negotiations at COP26, and moving to COP30 she stressed that we must not lose sight of the need for action. The commitment to 1.5 degrees of atmospheric warming is more at risk than ever, and drastic action will need to be taken to maintain it.

The UK’s presidency targets were mitigation, adaptation, finance, and collaboration. The former UK Ambassador stressed the importance of the NDCs and the need to get countries to plan to realise the targets, as the targets alone would not be sufficient to tackle the problem.

The speaker stressed the importance of global momentum and engaging as many states, organisations, companies, and people as possible in the process. She expressed her hope that the UK would continue to do this in an apolitical way due to the international nature of this issue.

As the discussion opened to the table the company enquired about the USA’s withdrawal from climate agreements and public climate scepticism from President Trump. The Brazilian Ambassador recognised the difficulty of not having one of the world’s largest polluters at the table, however, he was optimistic because this has happened before. During the previous Trump presidency, COP continued and progress was made.

Looking ahead to COP30, Brazil and the UK have much that they can achieve as they attempt to implement climate change action.

Canning House extends its thanks to the speakers for their contributions. To learn more about Brazil’s aspirations for COP30 read our latest blog and Canning Paper.

COP30 Blog Brazil Canning Paper