COP30 PRESIDENCY PRESENTS THE BELÉM ACTION AGENDA

During the Bonn mid-term negotiations, the COP30 Presidency, which will be held in Belém, presented its vision for the Global Climate Action Agenda, reiterating its commitment to implementing the results of the Paris Agreement’s Global Stocktake (GST), agreed in 2023 at COP28.

Previewed in the fourth letter from the designated president, André Corrêa do Lago, the agenda was presented in Bonn by him and the executive director of COP30, Ana Toni. The action agenda will be structured around six main axes: these reflect, as the presidency explained, “the breadth and depth of action required to scale up and accelerate efforts to meet the collective commitments made under the Paris Agreement and previous COPs”.

The COP30 action agenda

From the outset of the presentation by Ana COP30, CEO of COP30, the need to accelerate was emphasised, particularly with regard to the implementation of the Global Stocktake and the full implementation of the Paris Agreement, which was signed 10 years ago.

COP30 will seek to address three main challenges: connecting the action agenda with negotiations, building on existing initiatives and monitoring progress. To this end, a new framework based on the Global Stocktake is envisaged: bringing together all stakeholders for the implementation of the results of the first Global Stocktake, which dates back to COP28, based on operational points from 196 paragraphs grouped into six axes. ‘We started from the Global Stocktake,’ emphasised President Corrêa do Lago during the presidency event, ‘and we decided to create five columns, five rooms in which to have ten days of debates on these issues, and a sixth, another room in which we will address issues that cut across the first five.’

The six axes of action

The six axes, the strategic priorities identified by the COP30 presidency, are:

• Energy, industrial and transport transition;
• Protection of forests, oceans and biodiversity;
• Transformation of agricultural and food systems;
• Building resilience for cities, infrastructure and water;
• Promotion of human and social development;
• Enabling factors and cross-cutting accelerators, including financing, technology and capacity building.

‘Our goal,’ emphasises the fourth letter from the presidency, “is to give new momentum to global climate action by aligning the efforts of businesses, civil society and all levels of government in coordinated action. A global effort to achieve the GST as a global NDC, or rather a “GDC” – the greatest global contribution to the climate worldwide: a globally determined contribution.”

30 key objectives for COP30

COP30 Executive Director Ana Toni continued with the presentation of the Action Agenda, presenting 30 key objectives grouped into six strategic areas.

1. Energy, industrial and transport transition: triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency, accelerate low- or zero-emission technologies in hard-to-abate sectors, ensure universal access to energy; transition away from fossil fuels (the transitioning away of COP 28) in a just, orderly and equitable manner.

2. Protecting forests, oceans and biodiversity: investing to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation; efforts to conserve, protect and restore nature and ecosystems with solutions for climate, biodiversity and desertification; efforts to preserve and restore oceans and coastal ecosystems.

3. Transforming agricultural and food systems: land restoration and sustainable agriculture; more resilient, adaptive and sustainable food systems; equitable access to adequate food and nutrition for all.

4. Building resilience for cities, infrastructure and water: multi-level governance, sustainable and resilient construction and buildings; resilient urban development, mobility and infrastructure; water management, solid waste management.

5. Promoting human and social development: promoting resilient health systems, reducing the effects of climate change on the eradication of hunger and poverty; education, capacity building and job creation to address climate change; culture, cultural heritage protection and climate action.

6. Unlock cross-cutting enablers and accelerators including Finance, Technology and Capacity Building: climate and sustainable finance, climate integration in investment and insurance; finance for adaptation, integrated climate public procurement; harmonisation of carbon markets and standard carbon reporting systems, climate and trade, reduction of non-CO2 gases; governance, state capacity and institutional strengthening for climate action, planning and preparedness; artificial intelligence, public digital infrastructure and digital technologies; innovation, climate entrepreneurship and small and micro economic activities; bioeconomy and biotechnology; information integrity in climate change issues.

Just transition at the centre and 4 key outcomes

The COP30 Presidency emphasised that the principle of just transition must be at the centre of action on all selected objectives, which “balance mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation to drive climate action”.

From the six axes and 30 objectives, four key outcomes have been identified: coordination of existing initiatives into action groups; a “solutions granary” for themes; collective review of the results of the Action Agenda; and plans to accelerate implementation.

The incoming COP30 Presidency believes that the proposed Action Agenda will provide a structured and inclusive framework for mobilising collective action, bringing together thousands of subnational governments, businesses, investors, NGOs and communities to propose solutions. The idea is to usher in a new era in which collective action becomes the most lasting climate solution.

The goal is to accelerate and scale up climate action by presenting a set of replicable and scalable actions within a framework that aligns specific solutions with a process for monitoring global progress with greater transparency and accountability.

Next steps: mapping existing initiatives and launching Activation Groups

Between June and July, initiatives, solutions and key performance indicators will be mapped, and Activation Groups will be prepared and launched. Between July and September, Progress Initiatives are planned to develop Implementation Acceleration Plans. Between September and November, support for these plans will be gathered, with an assessment of their collective impact. COP30 will then review the solutions, report on their impact and present the Implementation Acceleration Plans.

Article by Paolo Della Ventura, member of the Italian Climate Network Executive Board

Cover image: photo of COP30