COP30 Outcomes: What Belém Delivered

By Mark Jansen, Center for Sustainable Finance at CATÓLICA-LISBON

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, set out to turn earlier climate promises into concrete delivery. It did not resolve every political disagreement, especially on fossil fuels, but it produced clearer direction on adaptation, finance, forests, just transition and gender.​ As we look ahead to COP31, that will be held in November 2026, let us understand what were the main outcomes of the last COP.

Overall conclusions from COP30

COP30 was framed as an “implementation COP,” focused on how to deliver existing commitments under the Paris Agreement rather than setting new long‑term targets. Countries reaffirmed the need to keep the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach and to strengthen their national climate plans (NDCs) and national adaptation plans (NAPs) before 2030. The Belem “Mutirão” political package brought together outcomes on mitigation, adaptation and finance, but negotiations exposed significant divisions on the pace of fossil‑fuel phase‑out and the balance between public and private climate finance.​

Adaptation and new global indicators

One of the clearest signals from Belém was on adaptation. Governments agreed to “at least triple” global adaptation finance by 2035, extending and strengthening earlier goals agreed in Glasgow and recognising the growing costs of climate impacts in vulnerable countries. Many developing countries had argued for a 2030 deadline and a defined baseline, so the 2035 target is viewed as a compromise.​

Parties also adopted 59 voluntary global indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation and launched a two‑year work programme to refine guidance on how to use them. The indicators span areas such as finance, technology transfer, capacity building and gender‑responsive policies, and are intended to help countries track progress and report more consistently in their future transparency reports. Some last‑minute edits created concerns about how easy they will be to operationalise, but they still represent the first structured global framework for monitoring adaptation.​

Climate‑finance outcomes and the Global Mutirão

Finance was at the centre of COP30. Through the Global Mutirão decision, countries confirmed a trajectory to mobilise at least USD 1.3 trillion per year in climate finance for developing countries by 2035 and established a two‑year climate‑finance work programme linked to the Baku‑to‑Belém roadmap. Within this framework, parties signalled a public‑finance goal of moving towards mobilising USD 300 billion per year, with the remainder expected from private investment and other flows.​

The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (the Loss and Damage Fund) moved closer to full operation. Guidance adopted in Belém is designed to simplify access procedures, strengthen links to the new global finance goal and prioritise grant‑based support for the countries most exposed to climate shocks. Cities, regions and local communities are expected to benefit from more direct access windows under the evolving arrangements.​

Forests, land rights and just transition

Forests and land tenure featured prominently. Pledges associated with COP30 include around USD 1.8 billion through 2030 and a political commitment to secure 160 million hectares of land for Indigenous Peoples, Afro‑descendant communities and other local groups, building on the Forest and Land Tenure Pledge and related initiatives. These commitments aim to protect critical forest areas while supporting community rights and livelihoods.​

Negotiators also agreed to establish a just transition mechanism under the Just Transition Work Programme. The mechanism is intended to support international cooperation, technical assistance and capacity building as economies move towards low‑emission, climate‑resilient development. In parallel, an updated Gender Action Plan encourages countries to integrate gender considerations into climate policies and reporting, collect more disaggregated data, and address how intersecting factors such as race, disability and age shape climate vulnerability and participation.​

Fossil fuels, trade and what comes next

COP30 did not agree a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels or to phase out fossil‑fuel subsidies, despite calls from more than 80 countries for stronger language in the final decision. Instead, parties launched two implementation‑focused initiatives—the Global Implementation Accelerator and the Belém Mission to 1.5°C—to support delivery of existing NDCs and NAPs without explicitly referencing fossil fuels. Trade also emerged as a sensitive topic, with countries agreeing to three dialogues on the interaction between trade measures, such as carbon border adjustments and climate policy, feeding into a high‑level event in 2028.​

For governments, businesses and financial institutions, the outcomes from Belém shift attention toward implementation: scaling up adaptation and climate finance, turning new indicators into practical tools, and preparing stronger national plans ahead of COP31 in Türkiye.