COP30 signals to global business that the move from climate ambition to action has begun

The 30th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Belém broke tradition in producing a final text as it drew to a close on 22 November – with the proceedings only 27 hours behind schedule and well ahead of previous COPs.

This year's COP in Brazil will go down as a success in showcasing global cooperation at a time when questions arise surrounding the advantages and challenges of multilateralism. However, the UN climate conference will be remembered for not enforcing a stronger line on fossil fuel "roadmaps" – which was a target outcome set out by COP28's "phase down" of fossil fuels.

Global commitments 

There were some major global commitments struck at this year's summit. COP30 agreed to mobilise $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for climate action, with a pledge to triple adaptation finance compared to 2025 levels by 2035. Current adaptation finance is estimated at $40 billion a year; tripling implies $120 billion a year earmarked for adaptation by 2035.

The Loss and Damage Fund, which was operationalised at COP28, has emerged from the Brazil summit with its replenishment cycles confirmed. This will create predictable obligations for donor countries.

One of the COP’s priorities was agreeing on a set of indicators for the global goal on adaptation. The summit adopted 59 indicators to track adaptation progress across water, health, ecosystems and infrastructure. These indicators will influence future compliance frameworks and reporting obligations for corporates and governments.

Despite strong advocacy from more than 80 nations, COP30 did not adopt a binding fossil fuel phase-out roadmap. Instead, Brazil announced voluntary roadmaps outside the UNFCCC process, for which the UK has signaled its support.

Other commitments that were set out include the quadrupling of sustainable fuels by 2035 and tripling renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 under the COP30 action agenda.

The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) was also launched with $6.7 billion pledged and a target of $125 billion to incentivise forest conservation. The TFFF initiative signals growing emphasis on nature-based solutions and biodiversity-linked finance instruments.

Several bilateral article 6.2 agreements were approved at COP30 between buyer countries, including Singapore and Switzerland, and seller countries such as Malawi, Mongolia, Uganda, and Zambia. However, progress on centralised credit transactions through article 6.4 had limited progress.

What next? 

COP31 is set to be co-hosted by Turkey and Australia in Antalya next year and will inherit unresolved draft agreements on finance, adaptation, and governance from COP30.

In the meantime, Brazil will continue engaging member states outside of the COP process to establish a voluntary fossil fuel reduction roadmap, an initiative supported by over 80 countries including the UK. A similar initiative will be actioned for deforestation as well.

In particular, a conference jointly hosted by Colombia and Netherlands will focus on the interest from 80-plus member states for developing pathways to move away from fossil fuels in April 2026. 

The UK government's support over a fossil fuel roadmap is consistent with recently concluded consultations on the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards and Transition Planning requirements as focus on increasing renewable energy adoption to achieve an updated nationally determined contributions to reduce emissions by 81% by 2035. 

In the same timeframe, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol will publish a public consultation on the second greenhouse gas reporting standard for corporates and the Science Based Targets Initiative will finalise a new target setting methodology.

Osborne Clarke comment

While there are gaps in the COP process that limit widescale multilateral consensus, the move from ambition setting to taking action has already begun.

Companies have clear signals to reduce emissions through actions within and outside of traditional organisational boundaries. And those companies that manage the opportunities from decarbonisation ahead of regulatory changes will be best positioned to manage the transition.

Please get in touch with our experts to learn more.