By Marina Grossi*
Brazil is preparing for COP30, the first UN climate change conference, to be held in the country's capital, Belém, Pará. The meeting will be emblematic for several reasons: besides taking place on Amazonian soil, it marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the international treaty that brought together nearly 200 countries to curb climate change, and inaugurates a new cycle of climate commitments from signatories. At the same time, COP30 will be held after humanity has temporarily broken the 1.5°C temperature increase barrier compared to the pre-Industrial Revolution period. From now on, it will be necessary to increase the ambition of commitments and accelerate climate action, as the world is already feeling the impacts of extreme events caused by global warming.
As host of COP30, Brazil assumes a role as important as that played at Rio-92, the UN conference that gave rise to the COPs on climate, biodiversity, and combating desertification, and placed the country at the forefront of the sustainable development agenda. Now, we take on the far from simple task of reviving multilateralism and leading countries toward a robust final document that definitively sets the world on the path to a carbon-neutral economy with social inclusion.
Climate change COPs have their own rituals, positions, and even their own dialect. In January, the federal government announced the names of those who will occupy the presidency and executive board of COP30, formalized in the Official Gazette in March – respectively Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, who was Brazil's chief climate change negotiator at Rio+20 and has worked on sustainability since 2001; and Ana Toni, Secretary of Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA). The name of the 'high-level climate champion' position, literally translated, is still being defined.
But what are the roles and responsibilities of these three main positions at COP30? The COP president is the main political leader, responsible for guiding the discussions and work that will be carried out at the conference. The COP president engages in dialogue with the entire world, seeking general consensus and ensuring the purpose of the event, acting as a facilitator of negotiations, reconciling the interests of participating countries toward a common goal. The executive director, or CEO of the Conference of the Parties, complements the president's role, with specific functions varying according to the host country's organization, but with the purpose of facilitating consensus, directing discussions, and participating in the organization of the event.
The champion, in turn, is a "new" feature of the COPs – their role was defined at COP21 in 2015, following the creation of the Paris Agreement. This is the representative appointed by the host country to mobilize climate action by companies, cities, and civil society, the so-called non-governmental actors. Their role is to coordinate society's efforts and connect them with countries' climate commitments. This is a highly relevant figure due to their interlocution with the rest of society. The champion's role reminds us that, more than ever, combating the climate crisis is not just a task for governments, but requires the engagement of all stakeholders – local governments, cities, communities, the private sector, and organized civil society.
The Belém conference represents a chance for Brazil to redefine the path of climate diplomacy, in a scenario marked by uncertainties, such as the crisis of confidence in multilateral relations, armed conflicts, and climate denialism from polarized governments – the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement in January by President Donald Trump is an example.
It's no surprise that COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago, in an open letter to society, evoked the idea of a major "global effort against climate change" to ensure COP30's success and deliver concrete results capable of accelerating the pace of transformation toward a new development model with positive impacts for nature and people. In the document, he emphasizes the need to increase the strength and relevance of multilateralism and the need, in this time of preparation for COP30, to connect all of society so that the negotiations truly achieve objectives that make sense for people's lives.
This is one of the most important missions of COP30: we will welcome people from all over the world with the flavors and colors of the Amazon, while at the same time bringing climate discussions closer to the reality of Brazilians, translating the basics of climate change so that everyone can understand the magnitude of what will be discussed in Belém. The topics on the agenda for the conference are sensitive, such as the financing needed for developing countries to conduct their energy transition, adaptation to the extreme weather that is already happening, and climate justice, so that the most vulnerable people are not further penalized by the climate crisis. The collective effort has already begun, and it involves us all.
* Marina Grossi is president of CEBDS (Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development), an organization with 28 years of experience and 120 large member companies.
