First Letter from the President of COP30, Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago

I am greatly honored to have been nominated by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the COP30 President-Designate. As a long-time climate negotiator, I humbly take this immense responsibility and am determined to serve the process towards COP30 and beyond in line with our shared human values and with the mission to consolidate our common legacy, whilst innovating our response to the extent needed by the climate crisis.

Cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity

In 1988, we, the United Nations, first identified climate change as a “common concern for humankind” and decided to create the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Our leaders listened to scientific alerts and came together in Rio de Janeiro four years later around the ultimate objective of preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Rio ‘Earth Summit,’ world leaders signed the UNFCCC, defining principles and the five building-blocks for the multilateral response to climate change: mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, and capacity-building.

Similarly to the UNFCCC’s role in inaugurating multilateral climate governance, Brazil’s Federal Constitution adopted in that same year of 1988 established the fundamental objectives of the Brazilian Republic: to build a free, just, and caring society; to guarantee national development; to eradicate poverty and marginalization and reduce social and regional inequalities; and to promote the good of all, without prejudice to origin, race, sex, color, age, or any other form of discrimination. Brazil’s Constitution equally binds the country to be governed in its international relations by principles that include “cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity.” This fundamental principle will guide the incoming presidency of COP30 – not only because the Brazilian diplomacy is constitutionally bound by it, but because it has the firm conviction that there is no future progress for humanity without deep, rapid, and sustained cooperation among our peoples.

COP30 at the epicenter of the climate crisis

We now enter 2025 with the confirmation that 2024 was the warmest year on record globally, and the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above its pre-industrial level. January 2025 further marked the warmest month on record. Building on previous work on physical, transitional, and legal climate-related risks, the Financial Stability Board – the international body that monitors and recommends policies for the global financial system – reported last January that climate shocks can threaten the world’s financial stability. COP30 will therefore be the first to undeniably take place at the epicenter of the climate crisis, and the first to be hosted in the Amazon, one of the world’s most vital ecosystems, now at risk of reaching an irreversible tipping point, according to scientists.

We have long known the scale and gravity of climate change and its growing impacts. We have affirmed and reaffirmed global warming as an existential threat to humankind. We have had scientific knowledge on the issue for over 35 years, consolidated since the first 1990 IPCC assessment report.

Now, not only do we hear about climate risks, but we also live the climate urgency. Climate change is no longer contained in science and international law. It has arrived at our doorsteps, reaching our ecosystems, cities, and daily lives. From Siberia to the Amazon, from Porto Alegre to Los Angeles, it now affects our families, health, cost of living, and routines in education, work, and entertainment. Images of climate disasters and human suffering invade our living rooms on TV and on social media, as we rapidly enter a dangerous zone in which the rich in developed and developing countries isolate themselves behind climate-resilient walls. Meanwhile, the poor in both developing and developed countries suffer more and more. Inevitably, extreme weather events – and potential climate tipping points – will increasingly affect every country, community, and individual, though the most vulnerable will be the most affected.

A global call against climate change

While we grieve human and material losses, 2025 must be the year we channel our sadness and indignation towards constructive collective action. Change is inevitable – either by choice or by catastrophe. If global warming is left unchecked, change will be imposed on us as it disrupts our societies, economies, and families. If instead we choose to organize ourselves in collective action, we have the possibility of rewriting a different future. Changing by choice gives us the chance for a future that is not dictated by climate tragedy, but rather by resilience and agency towards a vision we design ourselves.

In coming to terms with reality when countering doom, cynicism, and denial, COP30 must be the moment of hope and possibilities through action – never paralysis and fragmentation. We must face climate change together and reactivate our collective and individual ability to respond: our “response-abilities.”

The Brazilian culture inherited from Brazilian native indigenous peoples the concept of “mutirão” (“Motirõ” in Tupi-Guarani language). It refers to a community coming together to work on a shared task, whether harvesting, building, or supporting one another. By sharing this invaluable ancestral wisdom and social technology, the incoming COP30 presidency invites the international community to join Brazil in a global “mutirão” against climate change, a global effort of cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity.

Together, we can make COP30 the kickstart of a new decade of inflection in the global climate fight. As the nation of football, Brazil believes we can win by “virada.” This means fighting back to turn the game around when defeat seems almost certain. Together, we can make COP30 the moment we turn the game around, when we put into practice our political achievements and our collective knowledge to change the course of the next decade. COP30 can be the COP we align efforts worldwide: from national to local governments, from international capital markets to local bazars, from major technology actors to local innovators, from academic to traditional knowledges.

Summoning the United Nations in a new alliance against our common enemy: climate change

In recovering our abilities to respond, we must tap into the inspiration of historical victories in overcoming past existential threats. 2025 is also the year the international community remembers it represents the legacy of the alliance that eight decades ago chose to leave differences behind to unite against the scourge of war. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and of our alliance in creating the United Nations. German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt denounced the “banality of evil” as the acceptance of what was unacceptable. Now, we face the “banality of inaction,” an irresponsible and unacceptable inaction.

In this critical decade, Brazil summons back our alliance of peoples to once again leave our differences behind and unite in vanquishing our common enemy: climate change. This time, we will count on strong foundations to lead us to victory. Science confirms we have the resources to combat climate change. Among them, our technology now taps into life and digital networks that can connect, leverage, and distribute resources through unprecedented flows in speed and scale. Though greatly inequitable and vulnerable to climate risks, our financial architecture boasts sophistication gained from previous crises that can be reformed and improved further. COP30 can be the moment we align international financial flows and merge the digital and climate transitions into one single new industrial revolution that is climate conscious.

Pulling levers: calling brilliant minds, brave individuals, hard work solidarity

To leaders and stakeholders beyond the UNFCCC – in finance, subnational governments, private sector, civil society, academia, and technology – the incoming COP30 presidency invites you to join our global “mutirão.” Humanity needs you.

Ancient Greek mathematician and physicist Archimedes said, “give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” To leaders and stakeholders in all walks of life, give us levers long enough and COP30 will serve as a fulcrum on which to place them. Together, we shall move the world towards low-carbon and climate-resilient transitions.

To our thinkers, spiritual leaders, artists, and philosophers, we call on you to help us transcend outdated mindsets whilst preserving shared values and innovating towards a new planetary renaissance. Humankind must regenerate its relationship with itself and with the nature it belongs to.

To local leaders, small businesses, parents, individuals, and professionals in health, education, and public safety, we need you to regenerate our communities as strongholds of belonging, cooperation, and purpose. Our human family will only be as resilient as our communities and neighborhoods are cohesive and strong. In enhancing the values of citizenship, we need to offer our children vision, exemplary models, and mentorship in demonstrating that the extent to which we respect each other, and our environment, is the extent to which we respect ourselves.

As we prepare for COP30, the incoming presidency will be recruiting actors among non- State stakeholders to partner-up as “levers” in helping apply solutions to “high leverage points,” where small changes can result in large impacts on complex systems’ behaviors. Incentives representing the rules and boundaries of our systems can become strong leverage points for just, fast, and comprehensive climate transitions.

The recognition of the need to act as soon as possible to face the urgency of climate change should inspire new attitudes. We must recognize that issues considered "problems" can emerge as important "solutions." We can revert the perception of the role of some actors, sectors, technologies, and practices that have evolved and, by being already available, can represent important contributions.

When we get together in the Brazilian Amazon in November, we must listen to the latest science and re-evaluate the extraordinary role already played by forests and the people who preserve and rely on them. Forests can buy us time in climate action in our rapidly closing window of opportunity. If we reverse deforestation and recover what has been lost, we can unlock massive removals of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere while bringing ecosystems back to life. Healthier ecosystems can equally offer resilience and bioeconomy opportunities by promoting local livelihoods, creating sophisticated value- chains, and generating innovations in biotechnology. Tapping into such an outstanding potential requires enhanced global support and investment, including through financial resources, technology transfer, and capacity-building.

Pulling levers: calling stakeholders within the UNFCCC

To leaders and stakeholders within the UNFCCC negotiations, COP30 must represent a decisive transition from the regime’s negotiation phase, which has already succeeded in positioning climate at the center of the world’s economic, social, and political debates. Significant collective progress towards the Paris Agreement temperature goal has been made, from an expected global temperature increase over 4 °C, according to some projections prior to the adoption of the Agreement, to an increase in the range of 2.1–2.8°C with the full implementation of the current nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

The Paris Agreement is working, but there is much more to do.

To climate negotiators, as we continue to reinforce the regime, it is relevant to be self- critical and act upon much of the outside perception of talks having lingered for over three decades with meager results. In view of climate urgency, we need a new era beyond negotiating talks: we must help put into practice what we have agreed. We must decisively pull the levers of our processes, mechanisms, and bodies towards aligning efforts within and outside the UNFCCC with the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement on temperature, resilience, and financial flows.

To national policymakers and political leaders, governments have the response ability to pull the levers of climate action and ambition in their next NDCs. In integration, our NDCs must align with the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. National leaders must honor their resolve to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C. Human lives depend on it, future jobs depend on it, healthy environments depend on it.

There is a high expectation of taking stock of NDCs at COP30. As we all know, NDCs are nationally determined and hence not subject to multilateral negotiations. We will nevertheless stimulate a frank collective reflection on bottlenecks that have been hampering climate ambition and implementation.

We will be judged in the future by our willingness to firmly respond to the growing climate crisis. Lack of ambition will be judged as lack of leadership as there will be no global leadership in the 21st century that is not defined by climate leadership. We can be on the right side of history by turning NDCs into platforms for a prosperous future that enshrine national determination to contribute and transform. In the run-up to COP30, we need ambitious NDCs that privilege quality as a follow-up to legal obligations under the Paris Agreement.

In helping each other in transitions that are just, our common but differentiated responsibilities will serve as strong levers for countries’ willingness to contribute to the climate fight. Our fulcrum: international cooperation for strengthening respective capabilities and institutions in all countries. As we acknowledge we are all interdependent in the fight against climate change, we must recognize the international community is only as strong as its weakest link.

COP30 will serve as a fulcrum for long levers within and beyond the UNFCCC because our multilateral climate regime is strong, resilient, and resourceful. Climate multilateralism boasts the wisdom and achievements from each of the past twenty-nine COPs. Standing on the shoulders of our predecessors, the incoming presidency of COP30 is humbled by the legacies of COP21 to COP29, legacies that we must preserve and build upon.

Upholding multilateralism: preserving and expanding our collective legacy

Supported by the entire UN System, as determined by Secretary-General António Guterres, our multilateral institutions can and will deliver results commensurate with the scale of the climate challenge.

Ever since Brazil received the trust of Latin America and the Caribbean as our region’s COP host, the path to COP30 has been successfully paved by the COP28 and COP29 Emirati and Azerbaijani presidencies – our troika partners in the Road Map to Mission 1.5. In 2023, under Emirati leadership in Dubai, we adopted the UAE Consensus, which included a breakthrough on loss and damage, following the Egyptian COP27 leadership, and the conclusion of the first global stocktake (GST). Unprecedentedly, the GST launched global calls for efforts towards halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, and for accelerating the global energy transition, including by tripling renewable energy capacity globally, doubling the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements, and transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly, and equitable manner.

Based on equity and science, the GST is already the unanimous reference that informs international cooperation and Parties in enhancing actions and support. The GST stands as our guide to Mission 1.5, as our collective project to implement the vision of the Convention and the Paris Agreement, the vision of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty.

Having COP28 as a steppingstone and then under the Azerbaijani leadership of COP29, we finally completed in 2024 the Paris “Rulebook” by finalizing the rules under Article 6. We further adopted the “Baku Climate Unity Pact,” which includes the cornerstone decision around the new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG). The incoming COP30 presidency looks forward to working with the COP29 presidency in guiding the “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T” to scale up climate finance to developing country Parties. Together, we will be producing a report summarizing our work by COP30. The “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T” must serve as a fulcrum for leveraging finance to low-carbon and climate-resilience pathways in developing countries, recalling that IPCC's alerts on the urgency of climate action are centered on findings that finance, technology, and international cooperation are critical enablers for accelerated climate action. Experts are clear: we only have a few years. If climate goals are to be achieved, both adaptation and mitigation financing will need to be increased manyfold.

Climate change represents one of the greatest challenges of our time and addressing it should be spearheaded by progress towards sustainable development and the mobilization of all of humanity’s resources to tackle structural inequalities within and among countries, while paving the way for just transitions towards low-carbon and climate-resilient societies. Though this may sound idealistic, the reality is that there is sufficient global capital to close the global investment gap but there are barriers to redirecting capital to climate action. Governments, through public funding and clear signals to investors, are key in reducing these barriers. We need to use in the best way the multilateral financial architecture and remove barriers and address disenablers faced by developing country Parties in financing climate action, including high costs of capital, limited fiscal space, unsustainable debt levels, high transaction costs, and conditionalities for accessing climate finance. We must progress in mainstreaming climate into investments and finance.

In guiding the “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T” alongside the COP29 presidency and in consultation with Parties, the incoming COP30 presidency reiterates the call on all actors to work together to enable the scaling up of financing to developing country Parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035. It is high time Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) evolved into bigger, better, and more effective entities that structurally support enhanced, ambitious climate action.

Navigating ahead: guided by the Southern Cross

As we step into 2025, we go from COP29 to COP30 not only with a complete Rulebook for the Paris Agreement but also with its policy cycle fully in motion, including in terms of NDCs and the enhanced transparency framework (ETF). We do have pending issues to solve at COP30, notably the UAE dialogue on implementing the GST outcomes and the just transition work programme (JTWP). The GST is an invaluable legacy that unites us. We must all continue to subscribe to it as the ultimate benchmark for climate implementation. Just transitions are central for leveraging climate action towards sustainable development and addressing structural inequalities between and within countries, including in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity.

In previous COPs in the Northern Hemisphere, we navigated guided by the “North Star.” As COP30 moves to the Southern Hemisphere, we look at the sky to find the five stars of the “Southern Cross” as our compass in reaching decisive inflexions across all the UNFCCC’s five pillars – mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, and capacity- building. Parties have recognized in Baku we must double-down efforts to support just transitions across all sectors and thematic areas, and cross-cutting efforts, including transparency, readiness, capacity-building, and technology development and transfer. As countries prepare and communicate their next NDCs and Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), we need to build the capacity of developing country Parties to transition from ad hoc reporting approaches to government-led, systematic, and institutionalized processes for preparing and submitting national reports under the ETF. The mandated workshop to be held at the sixty-second session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI62, June 2025) will facilitate the sharing of experiences of developing country Parties in preparing their first BTRs. SBI62 will be equally key to the elaboration of the technology implementation programme and the review of the Climate Technology Centre. Parties are expected to agree on the technology implementation programme at COP30 to strengthen the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism and support the implementation of technology priorities identified by developing countries.

In 2025, we will continue and strengthen the Sharm el-Sheikh dialogue on the scope of Article 2, paragraph 1(c) of the Paris Agreement. The Paris Committee on Capacity- building (PCCB) will develop a work plan, whilst its focus for the year relies on capacity building for designing holistic investment strategies, bankable projects, and stakeholder engagement to strengthen the implementation of NDCs and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) in developing countries. SBI62 will also initiate the development of a new gender action plan, taking into account the review of the enhanced Lima work programme. Brazil is honored to build on the legacies of previous Latin American COP presidencies with a view to advancing the agenda on gender and climate at COP30.

At COP30 we also have the unique opportunity of amplifying the invaluable legacies from the British COP26 and the Egyptian COP27 leaderships, including under the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme (MWP). Instead of suspicion in polarized negotiations, the MWP has the vocation of becoming a platform for breakthroughs and trust-building through action and cooperation when leveraging opportunities, overcoming barriers, and exploring actionable solutions.

Let us bring the “mutirão” spirit to the mitigation ambition and implementation work programme. Discussions were held in Baku around the creation of a digital platform to facilitate implementation of mitigation actions by enhancing collaboration between governments, financiers, and other stakeholders on developing investable projects in a country-owned and nationally determined manner. Such a digital platform can serve as a fulcrum for powerful levers in climate implementation, with speed and scale.

As we face and recover from extreme climate events around the world, we must ensure 2025 is equally a landmark for climate adaptation and the delivery of NAPs. Governments, businesses, subnational stakeholders, financial institutions, and universities need to put adaptation at the same level of engagement and centrality as mitigation. Adaptation is no longer a choice, nor does it compete with mitigation. Building on progress on the global goal on adaptation (GGA) at COP28 and COP29, we must fulfill our legal mandate on indicators under the United Arab Emirates–Belém work programme.

Advancing the “Baku Adaptation Road Map” and the Baku high-level dialogue on adaptation will be essential, side by side progress on the work on the Santiago network and the Warsaw International Mechanism. Climate realism requires adaptation to be at the forefront and center of everything we do as governments, private sector, members of civil society, and individuals. A major inflexion on adaptation at COP30 will be the gateway for aligning our multilateral process with people’s daily realities: climate adaptation is the vehicle for care and repair towards collective transformation.

The more ubiquitous our fight against climate change becomes, the more we need to incorporate synergies between climate, biodiversity, desertification, and our Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 1992 Earth Summit was the cradle of the Rio Conventions, the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21. Twenty years later, our leaders gathered again in Rio, at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), around “The Future We Want,” which culminated in the SDGs in 2015, in the same year we adopted the Paris Agreement.

Back to Brazil – and now in the Amazon – these agendas need to be integrated through strong public participation. It is urgent we address, in a comprehensive and synergetic manner, the interlinked global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss in the broader context of achieving the SDGs. In doing so, we must continue to acknowledge and expand the role and contributions of Indigenous Peoples and of local communities in nature stewardship and climate leadership, while recognizing the disproportionate effects they suffer from climate change.

A new era: honoring our word

As negotiations emanating from COP21 conclude, we must refocus our efforts on action and implementation. Words and text must be translated into actual practice and transformations on the ground. The credibility and strength of the regime hinge upon it. COP30 must mark the moment we transition to the UNFCCC “post-negotiation” phase. We must intensify the consideration of approaches and initiatives to “increase the efficiency of the UNFCCC process towards enhancing ambition and implementation,” including through related ongoing work under the SBI.

With climate urgency, the complexity of our task ahead is to strengthen climate governance and provide agility, preparedness, and anticipation in both decision-making and implementation. For channeling collective wisdom, the incoming COP30 presidency will invite all presidencies from COP21 to COP29 to form a “Circle of Presidencies” for advice on the political process and on climate implementation. We will further invite the current presidencies of COPs under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The “Circle of Presidencies” will help ensure COP30 honors and synthesizes the legacies of previous COPs while reflecting on the ongoing agenda and the future of our process and of global climate governance. In synergy with the sustainable development, biodiversity, and desertification global agendas, the circle can leverage networks and articulate resources, processes, mechanisms, and stakeholders within and outside the UNFCCC, to make the difference locally when aligning with the Convention and the Paris Agreement. We will also invite leaders among Indigenous Peoples to form a “Circle of Indigenous Leadership” to help integrate traditional knowledges and wisdom into global collective intelligence.

The incoming presidency will continue to engage and count on with the Mission 1.5 Troika to significantly enhance international cooperation and the international enabling environment to stimulate ambition, action, and implementation over this critical decade and keep 1.5 °C within reach. The COP30 presidency will work closely with the UN Secretary-General on raising climate awareness and political momentum around NDCs, on promoting information integrity about climate change, and on fostering public mobilization, including in the context of the partnership between Secretary-General Guterres and President Lula.

The incoming presidency will also undertake a “Global Ethical Stocktake” (GES) to hear from a geographically diverse group of thinkers, scientists, politicians, religious leaders, artists, philosophers, and traditional peoples and communities, among others, about ethical commitments and practices for dealing with climate change at all levels. As French philosopher Rabelais warned us in the 16th century, “science sans conscience n’est que ruine de l'âme” (“science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul”).

Finally, the incoming presidency will engage in the months ahead on a series of further collective initiatives eyeing long-lasting positive impacts. In addition to desired progress on areas already mentioned, we will be making other announcements in the coming weeks and months, seeking to bring to the Action Agenda a new dynamic that focuses on key issues for the full implementation of the GST and of NDCs.

As the COP comes to the Amazon, forests will naturally be a central topic. Building on the outcomes of the 2023 Amazon Summit, the initiative “United for our Forests” will stimulate the debate on the role of forests in the climate fight. Other themes to receive special attention will include energy, cities, and technology and innovation.

The incoming presidency will bring together negotiators, governments, civil society, private sector, and other stakeholders to engage in an exercise on how to translate the 10 years of Paris into palpable achievements and incentives to continue to act and strengthen the multilateral regime. A group of Special Envoys will similarly engage with key actors to integrate different solutions and dimensions of the climate challenge which remain fragmentally addressed. In 2026, the Brazilian presidency will follow-up on these efforts in coordination with the future incoming COP31 presidency.

Beyond marking an isolated event, COP30 must respond to the climate crisis by triggering a “movement of movements” – a global movement of local, multistakeholder, and multisectoral movements. The integration of movements into a global movement will aim at incorporating to the preparations of COP30 principles of complexity science: together, we can make the whole of our efforts “emerge” as more than a mere sum of their parts. More importantly, such a global movement will be able to recover our sense of shared destiny.

Building tomorrow, making history today

COP30 will mark the midway in humanity’s critical decade in the fight against climate change as our common enemy. Now is the time we leave behind inertia, individualism, and irresponsibility to embrace the best versions of ourselves through creativity, solidarity, and perseverance. Countries, businesses, and individuals that anticipate the radical changes ahead will be those who prosper by building resilience and tapping into opportunities in engaging, innovating, and adapting.

We live in a historical moment. Systemic climate-related risks are already progressively showing signs. Climate shocks may not come slowly – they might emerge abruptly, in irreversible shifts.

In our fight against climate change – the fight of the century – all actors and every product and service will come under scrutiny everywhere, now and in the future. Those who refuse to reflect mid- to long-term thinking, future-oriented policies and engagement may succumb to reputational, transitional, legal, and physical climate-related risks. Those who genuinely commit to winning the climate fight have the potential to emerge in leadership in a golden age of global renewal, regeneration, and cooperation.

The incoming COP30 presidency is determined to serve as a platform for collective organization and mobilization, a vessel in a global “mutirão” against climate change. Let us pull the levers together. Let us move the world.

André Aranha Corrêa do Lago
COP30 President-Designate