COP30 Dispatch

What Congress Needs to Know from Brazil

The eighth day of COP30 began with the Brazil Presidency releasing a draft text of the Mutirão decision. The draft proposes a menu of options for ministers to grapple with related to finance, ambition gaps in nationally determined contributions (NDCs), trade, and transparency reporting. These are the high-level issues that have been addressed in Presidency consultations outside of negotiation rooms over the past week. Since yesterday afternoon, negotiators also produced 28 publicly-available draft texts and informal notes on issues ranging from the Global Goal on Adaptation to gender.

COP30 attendees are closely tracking the fate of two proposed “roadmaps” in relation to final outcomes. The first, a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap, has been gaining momentum; as of this afternoon, it has the support of 64 countries. This morning’s Mutirão decision text made references to this initiative, and ministers from Colombia, Germany, Kenya, Marshall Islands, UK, and Sierra Leone spoke at a press conference in support of “a just, orderly, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.” The second is a deforestation roadmap, which calls for stopping and reversing deforestation—especially in the Amazon, Congo, and Borneo forests—as well as strict monitoring and reporting mechanisms.

Missed yesterday’s edition? Check it out here. We are also compiling key COP30 announcements throughout the conference—check back for updates.

You can find all EESI’s COP30 resources here. Getting lost in the COP lingo? Check out EESI's glossary of terms and other helpful guides in our Resources section! Looking for more information? Reach out to EESI Policy Director Anna McGinn at [email protected].

Key Takeaways for Congress

The COP30 Presidency set a Wednesday deadline for a final “Mutirão package.” Even if this is accomplished, work on additional negotiating items will continue through Friday. (Negotiations)
The U.S. is ranked third-to-last place on the Climate Change Performance Index, which assesses the climate performance of 63 high-emitting countries and the EU. (Around the World)
The “blue package” for the ocean includes about 70 solutions for ocean energy, shipping, fishing, marine conservation, and coastal tourism. (Around the World)

Negotiations

Negotiators work through text during week two of COP30. | Credit: UN Climate Change - Kiara Worth via Flickr.

The Path Forward: The COP30 Presidency has set an ambitious path forward for negotiations for the rest of this week. The Presidency aims for countries to approve the Mutirão decision and some negotiation agenda items on Wednesday, and then finalize decisions on the remaining agenda items on Friday. Negotiators were already meeting through the night on Monday to stay on schedule. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is now in Belém, and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will arrive tomorrow to throw weight behind the effort to reach a timely COP30 outcome. For reference, a COP has not ended on time since 2003.

Dive Deeper: During a briefing with observers, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell reviewed the current status of major agenda items. On adaptation, he shared that although there is disagreement on a consolidated list of indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation, an outcome on this is still anticipated by the end of the week. There are also increased calls in adaptation-related negotiations for an increase in the share of the new climate finance goal that is specifically allocated to adaptation finance. On the just transition work programme, Stiell explained that developing countries have high expectations for this agenda item and want to see clarity on the scope of the program over multiple years. He also raised the technology implementation programme and the gender action plan as additional areas of focus.

Possible Outcomes: UNFCCC Executive Secretary Stiell said that a significant outstanding question is whether the outcome manages to signal the necessary political will to close the significant emissions, adaptation, and finance gaps. For additional updates on the negotiations, see the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s comprehensive daily reports and quick highlights posted every day.
- EESI Briefing: What’s on the Table for the Negotiations

U.S. Updates

Former U.S. State Department negotiator Trigg Talley and former Special Envoy for Climate ChangeTodd Stern spotted at the COP30 venue. | Credit: UN Climate Change - Kiara Worth via Flickr.

State Stories: A USA Climate Pavilion event convened subnational leaders to share climate action wins at the state level. Travis Kellerman of the New Mexico Department of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources pointed to the state’s regulation of methane emissions, which have decreased by 71% from 2005 levels, and a market-based Certified Gas Program that incentivizes gas producers to verify their emissions. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Alexa Voytek highlighted that the state has achieved nearly 60% carbon-free electricity, and described partnerships with the Tennessee Valley Authority to deploy electric vehicle charging stations and create a freight electrification strategy. Voytek also discussed Tennessee’s large portfolio of public and private partnerships on advanced nuclear technologies, as well as a $70 million nuclear supply chain investment fund to attract research and demonstration projects. California Secretary of Food and Agriculture Karen Ross explained how a 2013 state law has driven a 40% reduction in livestock methane emissions.
- EESI Climate Solutions by State: California, New Mexico, and Tennessee

Across the Americas: The USA Climate Pavilion hosted an event about engagement between the 34 countries in the Americas. Una May Gordon of the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator in Jamaica used one word to explain the state of collaboration: fragmented. Speakers from Canada, Chile, and the U.S. agreed, but also suggested that the U.S. federal government’s turn away from climate is inspiring more collaboration among other countries and between subnationals, companies, and universities. Sam Cho, commissioner at the Port of Seattle, described that this is happening even beyond the Americas. The Port of Seattle is working directly with ports in South Korea, rather than through national governments, which is accelerating progress towards a green corridor plan. Jean Lemire, envoy for climate change and northern and Arctic affairs from Québec, underscored that trust and confidence are built at the individual level. “Go get a beer together,” he recommended, to start rebuilding relationships.

Climate Action Means Business: A Business Council for Sustainable Energy event emphasized the role of businesses and public-private partnerships in tackling U.S. state climate goals. Mounir Boemond of AVEVA discussed how the company is leveraging artificial intelligence to support energy efficiency and clean energy projects. Bob Hinkle highlighted the work of Metrus Energy, which develops and finances large-scale energy efficiency and sustainable energy upgrade projects for businesses, schools and universities, and hospitals. Hinkle also commented on a letter to the COP30 Presidency, signed by 180 U.S. businesses committed to doubling energy efficiency (a goal agreed to at COP28). The letter also called on the Brazil Presidency to urge governments to create enabling policy environments for energy efficiency investment.

First Nations on the Front Line: A USA Climate Pavilion event highlighted traditional practices by Indigenous nations that have been undervalued in the global response to climate change. Cultural burning was cited by Janelle Lapointe of the Stellat’en First Nation in Canada and Christina Snider-Ashtari, tribal affairs secretary for California. Lapointe pointed out that the forced placement of her tribe in an area impacted by logging activities necessitated the incorporation of cultural burns into forest management policy and firefighting practices. Snider-Ashtari shared that cultural burns support ecosystems by helping to maintain an abundant acorn harvest. Damir Prado shared his experience in southern Chile, where students are linked with Mapuche elders to coordinate on clean energy projects without disrupting water resources and other environmental systems.

Around the World

UN Secretary-General António Guterres holds a bilateral meeting with climate scientists and economists. | Credit: UN Climate Change - Kiara Worth via Flickr.

High-Level Segment: Ministers reconvened for day two of the COP30 High-Level Segment. Most countries highlighted the ambition of their newest NDCs. Ministers from developing countries like Namibia and Vanuatu emphasized that even with aggressive NDCs, they are responsible for such a small share of global emissions that they cannot move the needle; rather, it is essential for big emitters to step up. European countries, including Italy, Luxembourg, and the UK, touted their contributions to international climate finance goals. Luxembourg’s Minister of Environment, Climate, and Biodiversity shared that the country has announced about $27.5 million in new funding for adaptation, loss and damage, and innovation. Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Technical Supervision discussed a new agreement to open an expert dialogue on climate and mountains at the subsidiary body meetings in June 2026. Meanwhile, Fiji’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change highlighted the importance of jointly addressing ocean health and climate change. Ethiopia’s State Minister of Planning and Development underscored that “Africa is not merely a victim, it is the home of climate action.” Ethiopia is set to host COP32 in 2027.

Report Cards Ready: Germanwatch, NewClimate Institute, and Climate Action Network International released their 21st Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI 2026). The index compares the performance of 63 high-emitting countries and the EU on greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use, and domestic climate policies. So who made the grade? No country’s climate performance was good enough to land one of the top three slots. Denmark ranked fourth due to high renewable energy use, strong climate policies, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The UK’s carbon emission policies helped it place fifth, followed by Morocco (sixth) and Chile (seventh) for low per-capita emissions and strong NDCs. The U.S. came in 62nd out of 64, an eight-spot drop since the last CCPI update, because of the Trump Administration’s exit from the Paris Agreement and promotion of fossil fuel use. The U.S. was followed only by Iran (63rd place) and Saudi Arabia (64th).

Fast, Fair, and Funded Fossil Fuel Phaseout: The Center for Biological Diversity held a press conference advocating for a COP30 roadmap for a fossil fuel phaseout. Panelists focused their comments on the draft Mutirão decision shared by the COP30 Presidency this morning. “None of [the options presented in the draft text] are remotely adequate or useful to what we’re facing here,” said Romain Ioualalen of Oil Change International. He stressed that a meaningful roadmap must be rooted in equity, and implored ministers to “clean this mess up.” Fellow panelist Omar Elmawi, representing African Movement of Movements, lamented that it took 28 COPs before fossil fuels were explicitly named as the major problem affecting the world’s climate.
- EESI Topic Page: Fossil Fuels

Into the Blue: A COP30 Presidency press conference highlighted the new “blue package” of implementation-ready plans to accelerate ocean-based solutions. The plan includes about 70 solutions for ocean energy, shipping, fishing, marine conservation, and coastal tourism, with 27 overarching outputs to support mitigation, adaptation, coastal resilience, and food security. The plan calls for up to $170 billion by 2030 to implement these goals, and outlines ways to unlock public and private investment. The package also includes the new Ocean Breakthrough Dashboard, which went live yesterday. The dashboard provides sector-by-sector information on individual countries’ progress towards each ocean outcome and highlights gaps in data and action.
- EESI Article: “Making Waves: The Importance of Oceans at COP28”

Dying for Better Health Data: Paris Cité University and Heidelberg University co-hosted a UNFCCC side event about how improvements to health impact data could facilitate stronger policy solutions and optimize funding streams. Heidelberg University Professor Rainer Sauerborn presented economic evidence that health impacts are the largest part of climate-related losses and damages. He stressed, however, that much of the existing research is focused on mortality, and that there is a lack of data on morbidity—climate-related disease and the years of healthy life lost. Professor Xavier Jouven of Paris Cité University added that health funding is dramatically out of sync with reality. An analysis of the original 2015 NDCs found that non-communicable diseases caused 67% of deaths from climate-related disease in low- and middle-income countries, but only received 1% of the total health funding. Multiple panelists showcased the Climate & Health Evaluation and Response System, which links climate exposure to measurable health outcomes so that communities can leverage their own data to pursue better policy, finance, and justice.
- EESI Topic Page: Public Health

Engendering Inclusive NDCs: An SDG Pavilion event hosted by Care About Climate examined gender equality in national climate commitments. About 70% of current NDCs mention women, but panelists cautioned that many of these mentions do not translate to meaningful inclusion. Paula Rincón Muñiz of Care About Climate noted that the climate crisis and gender inequality go hand-in-hand, and stated that “fixing our climate begins with fixing who can shape outcomes.” Panelists applauded the Dominican Republic’s Climate Change and Gender Action Plan, and hailed Canada’s NDC for being the first in the world to mention the LGBTQ+ community.
- EESI Article: “In Climate Diplomacy, Being Gender-Blind Leaves Women Behind”

Peatland Breakthrough: Peatlands, waterlogged land ecosystems, hold a significant amount of carbon relative to their size. Delegates met yesterday to discuss progress under the Peatland Breakthrough, including a new report on targets and guiding principles. The main objectives of this effort are to stop the additional loss of peatlands and restore 30 million hectares of the ecosystem by 2030.

Fiji’s Finance Roadmap: Yesterday, Fiji launched its Sustainable Finance Roadmap, which is designed to align the country’s financial sector with national climate policies. The country faces significant financial risks from climate change, including losses from decreased tourism and whole-of-economy impacts from extreme weather events. The plan outlines actions like improving risk disclosure, expanding access to financial services for small businesses, understanding operational impacts on the Reserve Bank of Fiji, and engaging in international carbon markets.

Urbanization Update: The UN launched its 2025 World Urbanization Prospects today with 10 key messages. Of the world’s 33 megacities (with populations of at least 10 million people), 19 are in Asia, yet more people still live in small- and medium-sized cities. Future growth in urban populations is expected to be uneven across regions. Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan are expected to account for 50% of total urban growth in the next 25 years.

Resources

EESI Resources

Briefing series: What Congress Needs to Know About COP30
- What's on the Table for the Negotiations?
- Keeping it Cool: International Efforts to Reduce Emissions from Refrigerants
- International Trade and Climate Policy
Climate Change Solutions: Bi-weekly newsletter covering climate, energy, and environmental issues
COP30 Announcement Tracker: Key Announcements from the 2025 UN Climate Summit. Also, check out this article with updates on past COP announcements.
U.S. Leaders at COP30: Updates on Members of Congress and other U.S. Officials at the 2025 UN Climate Summit
EESI's United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Glossary of Terms

Tracking the Negotiations

CarbonBrief: Reporting and analysis on the UN climate talks, with in-depth tracking of country positions in the negotiations
COP30 Resource Hub: World Resources Institute's extensive set of resources on the climate negotiations
Earth Negotiations Bulletin: A play-by-play of the negotiations, plus expert analysis from the International Institute for Sustainable Development
ECO Newsletter: The climate advocate’s perspective from Climate Action Network International
C2ES Newsletter: Daily key takeaways from COP30 experts observing the negotiations
Nature Updates: Nature4Climate brings daily updates on all the nature-based solutions happenings at COP to your inbox

Background and Logistics

Brazil COP30 presidency website: Priorities, details, and logistics for the negotiations from this year’s host country
UNFCCC COP30 website: Conference details and all updates on documents produced during the negotiations
Congressional Research Service: Reports related to the UNFCCC

Questions about COP30?

Reach out to EESI Policy Director Anna McGinn with your questions. We will get back to you or include the information in an upcoming newsletter.

Thanks for reading!

This newsletter covering COP30 will be running from November 7 - November 24.
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Staff contributors: Daniel Bresette, Alison Davis, Laura Gries, Amaury Laporte,
Anna McGinn, Nicole Pouy, and Hannah Wilson-Black

About EESI

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit advancing science-based solutions for climate change, energy, and environmental challenges to achieve a sustainable, resilient, and equitable world. Founded on a bipartisan basis by members of Congress, EESI has been informing policymakers about the benefits of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and environmental conservation since 1984.

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