The 30th Climate Conference (COP30), held this November in Belém, Brazil, was a summit marked by contrasts. For the first time, the conference took place in the heart of the Amazon, a location with strong symbolic significance in the fight against deforestation, and coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Yet, the outcomes were less ambitious than many had hoped.

One of the major headlines was the absence of the United States, following the decision of the country historically most responsible for the climate crisis to withdraw from the Paris Agreement next year. This situation has raised fears that other states might follow suit and also abandon the multilateral decision-making space. Nevertheless, one of the main achievements of the summit may be precisely that it kept the spirit of multilateralism alive. The overall assessment is that the world is not turning back and reaffirms its commitments under the Paris Agreement, even though it is acknowledged that we are still far from stabilising global warming at 1.5 °C.

The most important agreements are:

  • A Just Transition Mechanism to ensure that the decarbonisation process includes the rights of workers, indigenous peoples, youth, and other groups.

  • A Gender Action Plan to strengthen the role of women within the Convention and reduce the climate vulnerability of women and girls.

  • A package of adaptation indicators to measure global progress and the advancement of countries in improving resilience to climate impacts.

  • A “Global Mutirão” to unite humanity in a mobilisation against the climate crisis with four key elements:

    • The Global Implementation Accelerator to respond urgently to the challenges some countries face in implementing their commitments, and to strengthen international solidarity and cooperation.

    • The Belém Mission towards 1.5 °C to raise the ambition of countries’ emissions reduction plans and align them with the 1.5 °C target.

    • A commitment to triple adaptation finance by 2035, along with the creation of working groups to increase funding from rich countries to developing nations.

    • The creation of a working group to discuss “unilateral trade measures to combat climate change”, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will become fully operational in the EU from January 2026.

Despite these advances, no roadmap was approved to phase out fossil fuels or halt deforestation. However, the Brazilian presidency has pledged to intensify its diplomatic efforts to ensure these roadmaps are on the agenda of the next COP. In addition, Colombia and the Netherlands have announced that in April 2026 they will hold an International Conference on phasing out fossil fuels outside the COP framework. That fossil-fuel-producing countries like Colombia are taking a leadership role in these issues is a positive indicator that change is possible and already irreversible. It is encouraging to see some countries willing to take this path, representing an effective way to overcome the blockage and fear-driven narratives promoted by certain petro-states, and to open new avenues for progress.

We would like to close this article with a reflection at the national level. The COP space and multilateralism are extremely important, but they have their limits, particularly in a world where geopolitical tensions are rising. We cannot expect this forum to generate all the solutions to the climate crisis, which increasingly impacts us. There are many other levels of governance where binding decisions must be made.

Since 1990, Catalonia has reduced its emissions by only 1%, a minimal progress compared with the United Kingdom, which has halved its emissions despite increasing its GDP per capita and taking into account emissions associated with its imports. We repeatedly claim that we want to lead progress, but the reality is that we are still captive to an outdated notion of progress. We must overcome the fear of making decisions and move forward decisively. We have the scientific knowledge, technology, and resources to do so, and far too much to lose through inaction. Are we ready to act?

Manel Balfegó Brull and Olga Alcaraz Sendra, Professors and members of the Climate Change Governance Group at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.