The world arrives in Belém for COP30 at a moment of profound division. The international system is being tested in ways we have not seen in decades. Yet the climate crisis does not wait for stability. It touches every community on Earth. For small-island developing states, climate finance means coastal protection, food security, and survival. When I visited island nations from the Pacific to the Caribbean during our presidency, their moral leadership inspired the principle that guided our work in Baku; those who have contributed least to climate change should not face it alone. A crucial measure of success in Belém will be whether donor countries honour the promises they have already made. By Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President.
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Results for COP30
Thursday 6 November 2025
Baku, Azerbaijan
Tuesday 23 September 2025
Berlin, Germany
A big test for the Paris agreement is taking place this week at the United Nations General Assembly, where all countries are to present their national climate plans, a process that ends in Belém, Brazil at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) later this year. Despite the depressing state of climate debates today, I am optimistic that the collective spirit built over the last decade is now quietly but deliberately working to consolidate and build upon the gains that have been made. The Paris agreement is one that all countries – whether fossil-fuel producers, island states, or the world’s wealthiest economies – negotiated and ratified in record time. It combines effective measurement and monitoring with flexibility for countries to determine and devise their own plans to confront climate change.
