2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP30, was the 30th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. It was held at the in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025.
Agreeing an explicit plan or roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels was the most contentious issue. Oil producing nations blocked any binding language so the COP30 president, André Corrêa do Lago, announced two voluntary roadmaps outside the formal UN process.
The conference text agreed after final negotiations was a compromise. Its main points were:
- Tripling climate adaptation finance by 2035 but without clarity on who pays.
- A Just Transition Mechanism to support fairness in moving to a green economy.
- Adoption of 59 global indicators for tracking adaptation progress.
Pre-conference
The city's candidacy was announced in 2022 by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during his visit to COP27, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, and was made official in January 2023.A series of construction and revitalization projects were undertaken by the local government to improve the city's infrastructure using sustainable methods. A new public square was built along one of the city's main avenues, and upgrades were made to the sewage and flood-prevention systems.
In January 2025, President Lula da Silva appointed Brazilian diplomat André Corrêa do Lago as president of COP30. The decision was welcomed by climate activists, given Lago's experience in climate negotiations and leadership in climate justice discussions. Lago is a veteran diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who has served as a longtime climate negotiator.
On 4 November 2025, President Lula da Silva signed a law temporarily symbolically transferring the Brazilian national capital from Brasília to Belém for the duration of COP30, from 11 to 21 November 2025. During this period, all acts and orders from the President, ministers, and other federal agencies must be signed and registered in Belém. Additionally, the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches may conduct their activities from the COP30 host city. The law was approved by the Brazilian National Congress on 7 October 2025.
Organizational challenges
Preparations for Belém to host COP30 faced several challenges, including an accommodation shortage and controversies related to urban infrastructure projects. Broader concerns were also raised about pollution, social inequality, and deforestation in the Amazon.The former aircraft field in Souza, which had contained several abandoned aircraft since at least 2010 including an EMB-110 Bandeirante and an EMB-110P1 Bandeirante as well as other aircraft at nearby locations, was cleared to make way for a public square called Parque da Cidade. It was unclear whether the removed aircraft materials, such as aluminium, were properly recycled, and some trees were also removed during the process.
Accommodation
Months before the event, reports emerged of extreme price increases for lodging. Some listings on platforms such as Airbnb were priced as high as US$9,320 per day, compared with typical rates of around US$11, while a single-person flat on Booking.com was listed for US$15,266 per night. These figures fueled claims of widespread real estate speculation, with the Brazilian government describing the prices as "extremely high and incomprehensible".In response, the Federal government of Brazil announced measures to address excessive lodging prices and stated it would make 26,000 additional beds available by using cruise ships, schools, new hotels, and military facilities. However, a previously announced price-regulation agreement with the hotel industry remained unsigned by July 2025 due to resistance from the sector. The government rented two cruise ships, the MSC Seaview and the Costa Diadema, moored at Pier Outeiro in Brasília for the 15-day event. These ships, which were the largest passenger vessels to dock in the city, offered rooms at a minimum rate of approximately US$220 per day.
The lodging crisis prompted a strong international reaction, with 27 countries signing a letter requesting solutions and some nations pressuring Brazil to relocate the event. High costs remained the main obstacle for attendees; a UN survey in August 2025 found that only 18 of 147 responding countries had secured accommodation. The situation led some delegations, including Austria’s, to cancel their participation and affected local tenants, who reported being asked by landlords to vacate their homes for higher-paying visitors. Several official delegations also opted to send fewer representatives to COP30 due to the accommodation shortage and inflated room prices, as reported by The Guardian ahead of the event's opening.
For the first time among visiting VIP aircraft at Belém Airport, an A330-200 from China, an A330-200 from the French government, an A340-300 from Qatar, and an A350-900 from the German government landed at the airport.
Highway construction controversy
Another point of contention was the construction of a new four-lane highway, Avenida Liberdade. A BBC report in March 2025 stated that the project was underway to ease traffic in preparation for COP30. The project drew criticism from conservationists and local residents for its potential impact on the Amazon rainforest, biodiversity, and nearby communities. Official organizers and the state government of Pará disputed any connection between the highway and the conference. The organizers described the BBC's headline as "misleading," stating that the project was not a federal responsibility and was not part of the official COP30 infrastructure plan. The state government similarly denied the link, noting that the highway had been planned as early as 2020—before Belém was selected as the host city—and received no federal funding for its construction. Critics noted that while the project had been discussed since 2012, the conference may have provided a final justification to begin construction. The state of Pará had also previously cited COP30 as one of the interests served by the project.Costs
COP30 is said to have cost the Brazilian government R$946.9 million in contracts with the Estados Ibero-Americanos, but total expenses may have reached around R$5 billion, including additional costs such as the rental of cruise ships. On the other hand, exhibition spaces started at US$1,250 per m2 for the lowest tier, with higher-priced options available. Bronze: Starts at US$1,250 per m2. Silver: US$1,350 per m2. Gold: US$1,500 per m2.Attendance
The United States for the first time in COP history did not send representatives to the summit, after the Trump administration closed its office of climate diplomacy. However, California Governor Gavin Newsom attended to promote his state's environmental commitments and to form international partnerships. The California governor vocally criticized Trump and his administration for withdrawing from the summit and regressing on various climate goals. Newsom led an alternate US delegation which comprised more than 100 elected US officials, and was part of the US Climate Alliance of 24 governors.COP30 was the second-largest COP in history with 56,118 delegates registered, behind only COP28 in Dubai which was attended by more than 80,000 people. Host country Brazil had the largest delegation with 3,805 people registered, followed by China and Nigeria.
In addition to these figures, other significant delegations included Indonesia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Chad, Australia, Tanzania, and Japan. While the provisional numbers provide a snapshot of in‑person attendance, over 5,000 virtual delegates were registered to participate remotely.
Observers, including NGOs and intergovernmental organizations, were also present. According to a UNFCCC document, over 39,000 nominations were submitted from NGOs and IGOs, but the quota for admitted observers was capped at 9,500 due to venue capacity and security constraints.
A point of controversy was the presence of fossil fuel lobbyists, with approximately 1,600 participants from oil, gas, and coal sectors — about 1 in every 25 attendees, according to the Kick Big Polluters Out coalition. Among them, 531 were associated with carbon capture and storage companies, per a report by the Center for International Environmental Law.
Conference issues
One European aid charity, Christian Aid, stated the three main outcomes they would be looking for:- agreement among developed country governments on "how they would provide the $300bn in climate finance that they committed to at COP29";
- all governments to "commit to stopping new investments in fossil fuels" and to support a just mechanism allowing developed countries at national level to transition to low carbon economies in a socially just way;
- more ambitious commitments from countries aiming to go beyond their existing commitments and to submit suitably ambitious future climate change plans.