COP30 Dispatch

What Congress Needs to Know from Brazil

It is day three of COP30, and 145 different agenda items are currently being negotiated. Outside the negotiating rooms, hundreds of events are taking place, including those focused on advancing the Action Agenda that seeks to translate what is discussed at COP to activities on the ground.

The COP30 Presidency is publishing morning briefs and evening summaries each day. As highlighted in these updates, the Presidency organizes some of its work around daily themes. Today there are seven: information integrity, health, education, culture, justice and human rights, jobs, and workers. To advance today’s focus on livelihoods, the Presidency launched the Global Initiative on Jobs & Skills for the New Economy, which will be part of the Action Agenda.

Also, since COP started on Monday, updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) from Belarus, Bhutan, Burundi, Djibouti, and Ukraine have been added to the official UNFCCC NDC registry. Mexico and South Korea also announced the completion of their updated NDCs.

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 COP Presidency highlighted that “the mood is super constructive” in the negotiating rooms on the third day of meetings. (Negotiations)
Climate disinformation was a major topic of conversation, receiving coverage in press conferences, reports, and a declaration signed by 12 countries and counting. (Around the World)
The Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform met to discuss the collective exchange and continuance of Indigenous knowledge systems, culture, and stewardship with nature. (Around the World)

Negotiations

In-session workshop under Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement. | Credit: Mike Muzurakis, IISD/ENB.

COP Presidency Updates: The COP Presidency has announced that it plans to hold daily, public press conferences at 11:15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. EST. At the first session today, the Presidency shared that “the mood is super constructive” in the negotiating rooms, and representatives are eager to start reviewing draft text, which is already available for some of the agenda items. Carbon Brief offers a tracker of available texts. Túlio Andrade, director of strategy and alignment for the COP30 Presidency, described the work in the consultations (details below) as a dynamic he has not seen under the UNFCCC in a long time—rather than restating positions, negotiators are building on each other’s input and coming up with new ideas rather than defaulting to an existing list of options.
- EESI Briefing: What’s on the Table for the Negotiations

Mid-Week Check-In: The Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Commission led a press conference providing an update on the status of and expectations for the ongoing Presidency consultations, which stemmed from Monday’s compromise that left some items off the official negotiating agenda. These consultations are focusing on advancing four items that did not make it into the official agenda: finance flows from developed countries, trade mechanisms, ambition and implementation gaps in countries’ NDCs, and transparency reporting. European Commission representative Jacob Werksman reported that despite some “very strong differences of view” on these topics, conversations were progressing and bridges were being built.

EU à Table: The same press conference outlined the EU’s priorities for and expected deliverables from COP30, including advancing the outcomes of the first global stocktake by leveraging the Action Agenda, finalizing adaptation indicators, advancing the just transition work programme, implementing the new Gender Action Plan, and delivering on climate finance by scaling up “all sources of finance” and aligning finance flows with the goals of the Paris Agreement. For additional updates on the negotiations, see the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s comprehensive daily reports and quick highlights posted every day.

Around the World

More than 200 vessels carrying people from about 60 countries gathered in the Guajará Bay for the People’s Summit boat parade during COP30. | Credit: Cop30 Brasil Amazônia - Hermes Caruzo via Flickr.

Carbon Markets: Article 6 of the Paris Agreement relates to international carbon markets. After many years of negotiation, design, and planning, some countries are now starting to put this tool to use. At the Article 6.2 Ambition Dialogue, countries shared experiences to date, including how they will maintain high integrity in the market. Japan is a leader in implementation, using its Joint Crediting Mechanism to make investments that reduce emissions in other countries, helping both countries work towards their mitigation goals. Japan is working with 31 countries, which has about doubled the total list of bilateral agreements worldwide. The EU shared that a new EU law is under development to establish a 2040 emissions target and, if international carbon credits can be used to reach that goal, then the EU will likely start engaging with the cooperative approaches under Article 6.2.

For Your Information: A press conference hosted by the Union of Concerned Scientists unpacked the growing threat of climate disinformation and its perpetrators, and publicized a report and open letter from Climate Action Against Disinformation with more than 400 signatories. Panelists applauded Brazil’s inclusion of tackling disinformation in the COP agenda as part of its commitment to a “COP of truth.” Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40 Cities, explained that disinformation has turned seemingly benign topics like clean air, electric buses, and bike lines into highly contentious issues. Panelist Timmons Roberts of the Climate Social Science Network emphasizes that this happens because groups with “structural power” deploy disinformation to maintain the status quo of climate inaction. As an example, fossil fuel groups spend 19 times more on public relations than climate and clean energy groups. To combat this, Global Wind Energy Council CEO Ben Backwell shared that his group has been working with trusted partners like teachers and fishermen in Australia and Brazil to help identify the source of false narratives and track disinformation, which he framed as a public safety issue.

Dis-Disinformation Playbook: ACT Climate Labs held a UN-sponsored press event for their new report, The Five Levers For Change: a Blueprint to Phase Out Fossil Fuel Advertising. The fossil fuel industry currently spends $7 billion annually on advertising and public relations. This new blueprint offers a path for advertising agencies and media owners to transition away from fossil fuel clients in a way that is commercially successful and not disruptive to operations by analyzing contractual obligations, getting buy-in from boards of directors, and shifting the internal culture of media and public relations companies. As Jeni Miller of the Global Climate and Health Alliance noted, the fossil fuel industry has used deliberate disinformation to delay climate action for decades.

Information Integrity Declaration: The Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change announced the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change signed by Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay as of today. At the event, speakers emphasized that this effort will look to increase funding for research and investigative journalism into disinformation in order to strengthen the information ecosystem. Charlotte Scaddan, senior adviser on information integrity for UN Global Communications, explained that timing on this work is critical, with a particular need to be tackling this challenge during “vulnerability windows” like elections, COPs, and extreme weather events.

Thinking Seven Generations Ahead: The Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) met for its Annual Seventh-Generation Round Table to discuss the collective exchange and continuance of Indigenous knowledge systems, culture, and stewardship with nature. The Seventh-Generation Principle—inspired by teachings from Indigenous Peoples in North America—from the Baku Workplan of the LCIPP emphasizes how decisions made today might impact the next seven generations. With this principle in mind, Stella Brożek-Everaert spoke on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage about the multidimensionality of climate impacts and non-economic losses. She spotlighted the committee’s 2024 paper—an exploration of climate-related losses that are not easily quantifiable, such as cultural heritage, biodiversity, or habitability—and teased an upcoming publication focused on addressing the loss of cultural heritage. Output from today’s roundtable will be shared at the LCIPP Annual Intergenerational Dialogue on November 13.

Measuring Adaptation: The International Platform on Adaptation Metrics released a new policy paper to support ongoing discussions under the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA). The paper outlines the complexities of selecting and reporting on indicators that meaningfully measure progress on adaptation. One challenge is that it is easier to measure process and output—for example, the number of roads built or dollars dispersed—versus impacts like an increase in people engaging with early-warning systems or reduced hospital visits due to extreme heat. According to this paper, 67% of draft GGA indicators are focused on process and output. The researchers also provide recommendations for applying the indicators once agreed upon, as well as a roadmap for the years ahead.

CAN-I Speak?: Today’s Climate Action Network International (CAN-I) press conference focused on just transition, a key issue under discussion this year. Anabella Rosemberg, a just transition expert at CAN-I, applauded yesterday’s proposal by the G77 and China bloc to coordinate global efforts through a Just Transition Mechanism. She was joined by activist Ean Thomas Tafoya in highlighting the civil society-developed Belém Action Mechanism, which would help coordination among just transition actors by sharing information and providing practical support.

Cities in the NDCs: As part of yesterday’s ministerial meetings on urbanization and climate change, UN Habitat launched a new analysis, Urban Content in NDC 3.0. As Lea Ranalder of UN Habitat explained, the number of 2025 NDCs that mention cities has doubled compared to the previous round of NDCs. She also shared that cities are better integrated into many of these NDCs, being referenced across many different sectors, including buildings, energy, and transportation.
- EESI Podcast: “Smaller Scale, Greater Impact: Subnational Climate Diplomacy at COP30”

Concrete Solutions for Decarbonization: An event at the Buildings and Cooling Pavilion examined the built environment within the context of two reports: the upcoming 2025 Global Status Report on Buildings and Construction and the latest Emissions Gap Report. A key message shared from the Global Status Report is that this sector remains off track to achieve decarbonization by 2050, and that combined operational and embodied global emissions increased by 1% between 2023 and 2024. Getting back on track for the 2050 target would require a reduction in operational emissions by more than half by 2030. Oliver Rapf of the Buildings Performance Institute Europe emphasized that the technology needed for such ambitious decarbonization already exists, but it would need to be supported by a strong policy framework.
- EESI Article: “Washington State Leads the Way in Cutting Emissions from Existing Buildings”

Putting the “Eco” in “Economy”: NatureFinance and the Legal Amazon Consortium announced the official launch of the Full Protection Environmental Assets in the Brazilian Amazon Project. This initiative establishes economic mechanisms to value ecosystem services in the Full Protection Conservation Units, which are legally-protected areas in Brazil. “Forests, rivers, and soils are economic infrastructure as essential as roads or energy,” said NatureFinance Global Brazil Lead Luana Maia. “When these assets degrade, everyone pays the price. This project redefines how we finance the future—recognizing nature as a strategic asset and creating recurring revenue for those who protect ecosystems.”
- EESI Briefing: Maximizing the Impact of Natural Climate Solutions

Climate Data to Climate Action: Former Vice President and Climate TRACE cofounder Al Gore led a panel discussion on climate data for local communities. MSCI Institute’s Linda-Eling Lee recommended “democratizing” climate data by making it publicly available as soon as possible. Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith of Adelaide, Australia, asserted that city leaders need climate data to justify the purpose, expense, and locations of resilience, adaptation, and mitigation projects to their constituents. When prompted about shortcomings in climate information, another panelist noted that many climate models do not capture how risks compound in the long term, nor do they fully capture the role of nature-based solutions.
- EESI Briefing: Navigating Climate Information for Effective Policy-Making

Feeling the Heat: The Buildings and Cooling Pavilion held an event featuring a new heat resilience report from Trane Technologies and the Forum for the Future. The U.S.-focused white paper provides sector-specific recommendations to address extreme heat, describes policy levers, and shares case studies from nonprofits and companies.
- EESI Briefing: Keeping it Cool: International Efforts to Reduce Emissions from Refrigerants

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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