Climate 411

From the Territory to the Negotiating Table: Indigenous Preparations for COP30

By Bärbel Henneberger / Published: November 10, 2025
Sonia Guajajara_Indigenous Minister of Brazil, at the COParente process.

Sonia Guajajara_Indigenous Minister of Brazil, at the COParente process_Picture by Bia Saldanha

By Bärbel Henneberger and Bia Saldanha 

Today, the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) begins in the Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil. Since Belém was announced as host at COP28 in Dubai in 2023, Indigenous Peoples and local and Afro-descendant communities have been mobilizing across continents. After nearly two years – through local, national, and international gatherings – they arrive as leaders ready to shape climate action, including forest and biodiversity conservation. 

The world’s largest tropical forests play a key role in stabilizing our global climate. Indigenous peoples and local communities manage or have tenure rights over a significant portion of these forests, including over half of all remaining intact tropical forests. Their stewardship is crucial for global biodiversity conservation and climate, often outperforming government-managed protected areas in preventing deforestation. In the Amazon Basin – where roughly 30% of the land is Indigenous territory – the conference offers a historic opportunity to recognize Indigenous Peoples as key climate actors.   Read More »

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Climate Finance, Unlocked: Takeaways from the Baku to Belém Roadmap

By Zach Cohen / Published: November 6, 2025
Windmills in New Zealand

Getty Images

By Zach Cohen, Policy & Research Manager, Global Engagement & Partnerships 

Yesterday’s release of the Baku to Belém Roadmap – issued by the COP29 and COP30 Presidencies – offers a clear and comprehensive pathway to rapidly scaling climate finance to developing countries over the next decade toward the $1.3 trillion goal agreed last November. With COP30 emphasizing implementation, we’re assessing how the Roadmap will help governments, the private sector, financiers, and communities move from planning to delivery. 

EDF participated in the consultation process for the Roadmap, providing recommendations through multiple submissions. Here’s what stands out, and where coordination and ambition will matter most in the months ahead:  Read More »

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Article 6 At A Glance: A Decade of Progress and What’s Next

By Pedro Martins Barata / Published: November 4, 2025
Aerial forest landscape photo

Johnny Lye. iStock

By Pedro Martins Barata

The world needs every effective tool to cut pollution quickly and fairly – and Article 6 is one of them. It’s the Paris Agreement’s framework for countries to cooperate through carbon markets.  

Over the past decade, carbon markets and carbon credit integrity have significantly increased, rules have aligned, and this UN carbon crediting system has officially come online. This year in Belém, COP30 isn’t about renegotiating those rules; it’s about making them work – and making sure nature is part of the picture so finance reaches the people and ecosystems that can deliver near-term climate wins.  Read More »

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Two voices, one opportunity: Choosing climate action over crisis at COP30

By Angela Churie Kallhauge / Published: October 31, 2025
COP30 Belem 2025

Photo: UN Climate Change/ Lara Murillo

By Angela Churie Kallhauge

The upcoming United Nations climate negotiations, COP30 in Belém, Brazil, is a milestone moment to reflect on progress made and the path ahead. It’s undeniable that the journey to a climate-resilient world has been turbulent, especially as we wrestle with the reality of political pushback, disengagement, and finance shortfalls faced in several countries.  

This year, in particular, has delivered a barrage of mixed messages that make the path ahead feel fractured. 

In one ear, we hear loud, often politically charged distraction. Climate deniers actively push back on climate policies under the guise of economic prosperity. 

But in the other ear, we hear opportunity. While that negative voice appears louder, the other, the voice of opportunity, is more robust.  

In spite of the headwinds, that voice of opportunity is backed up by reality. And by clear scientific and economic evidence: The economic case for climate action has never been stronger.  For example, there is more investment in clean energy than ever before. Renewable energy is forecast to meet over 90 percent of the global electricity demand growth through 2030. 

What’s more is that this voice is not singular, but rather a chorus of voices belonging to a whole-of-society effort — not just governments, but communities and companies, Indigenous Peoples and investors — coming together to seize the opportunity. Public opinion remains strongly in support, with 80 percent of people globally and 66 percent of people in the United States welcoming stronger climate action.  In the private sector, a review of 75 top companies showed that 53 percent are holding firm to their climate commitments and 32 percent are expanding their efforts. For the first time, over 1,000 Indigenous Peoples are accredited to join COP30.  

The question for all of us is: Which voice do we choose to hear? Do we listen to the unsubstantiated defender of the status quo, or the voices from across society acting on the evidence that climate action is the biggest opportunity of our lifetime?  

At EDF, our choice is clear: we need to amplify the voices of those who see the opportunity of climate action – businesses, communities, and civil society alike – to galvanize governments negotiating at COP30 to boost their ambition and champion true solutions.  

Here are the major issues we’ll be watching at the COP:
Read More »

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COP30 in Brazil Must Deliver for Nature and Forests – And the Stakes Have Never Been Higher

By EDF Blogs / Published: October 30, 2025

By Roselyn Fosuah Adjei  

Roselyn is a senior expert in REDD+, forest governance, and climate policy and a Distinguished Humphrey Fellow of the U.S State Department. She currently serves as a Senior Advisor to EDF’s Forests team. 

Waterfall in tropical rainforest

Photo: Leslie Von Pless/ EDF

Most of us working in nature conservation think of the quickly approaching COP30 in Belém, Brazil, as the “Nature COP.”

The last time that title was used was at COP26 in Glasgow — a post-pandemic gathering that re-energized climate action after a year of global lockdowns. Glasgow gave birth to the Lowering Emission’s by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition’s first Letters of Intent with tropical forest countries, signaling unprecedented forest-finance momentum in the voluntary carbon market through an unusual blend of public and private finance. It also saw the launch of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, endorsed by over 140 countries pledging to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, and the UK-led Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, which charted a path toward deforestation-free commodity supply chains.  

But even with these gains, the world has been falling short in recognizing and financing nature’s role in sustaining a livable planet.  

Read More »

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From IUCN Congress to COP30, let science, Indigenous knowledge, and economics lead toward solutions that work for people and nature

By Angela Churie Kallhauge / Published: October 6, 2025

This October, a rare, once-every-four-years gathering is taking place in Abu Dhabi: The IUCN World Conservation Congress is where global experts and leaders meet to discuss nature conservation. It’s not just about protecting wildlife; it’s a vital opportunity to find smart, practical, and science-backed ways to meet our 2030 goals for people and nature. This event is a key moment to advance actions that tackle the connected problems of biodiversity loss and climate change together—a collaborative effort, much like the UN’s “Rio Trio” agreements, that could accelerate global action. 

This Congress comes just weeks ahead of the next United Nations climate conference, COP30, which will take place in the Amazon Basin, hosted by the city of Belém, Brazil. Hosting in this setting gives us the opportunity to cast global attention to the challenges and potential solutions unfolding in the wider Amazon region, for the communities living and sustaining the Amazon, and for biodiversity and nature at large.  Read More »

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