Video still: The Mesoamerican Caravan for Climate and Life action outside COP30 on November 6, 2025. They mention the name of Indigenous Lenca defender Berta Caceres who was murdered in March 2016, weeks after COP21. More than 1,729 land and environmental defenders have been killed since then.
The United Nations COP30 “conference of parties” climate summit starts tomorrow, Monday November 10, in Belém, Brazil.
An estimated 50,000 people, including the leaders of 100 countries and more than 5,350 fossil fuel lobbyists, will gather in this “city that lies at the mouth of the Amazon River and at the edge of the rainforest considered the lungs of the planet.”
Canada’s reduction targets
Canada will be represented at COP30 by Julie Debrusin, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Several days ago, the Canadian Press reported: “Canada is not backing down ‘in any way’ on its 2030 and 2035 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, Ottawa insists… [but] …officials noted that Canada faces ‘challenges’ in meeting its GHG reduction targets, such as the 2030 target, which calls for a reduction of at least 40 per cent from 2005 levels, and the 2035 target, which calls for a reduction of at least 45 per cent.”
That article further notes: “A report released last year by the federal commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development indicated that Canada was not on track to meet its 2030 target. Jerry DeMarco estimated that Canadian emissions had fallen by only seven per cent from 2005 levels.”
In September 2025, the Canadian Climate Institute documented: “Canada’s emissions progress flatlined in 2024, according to the latest Early Estimate of National Emissions (EENE) from 440 Megatonnes, a project of the Canadian Climate Institute. With emissions essentially unchanged from 2023, at 694 megatonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent (Mt), the new data shows that previous years’ improvements have stalled.”
Land defenders can stop GHG pollution
In August 2021, the Indigenous Environmental Network and Oil Change International produced a report that highlighted Indigenous water protectors and land defenders have “stopped or delayed greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to at least one-quarter of annual U.S. and Canadian emissions.”
That report attributed 125 Million Metric Tons Annual CO2e Pollution to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, 130 megatons to the Trans Mountain Extension Oil Pipeline, and 175 megatons to the Line 3 Oil Pipeline Expansion.
The completion of these three pipelines since this report involved violence against Indigenous land and water protectors.
Two new pipelines in Canada?
Now, news reports suggest construction on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline on Gitanyow territory in northern British Columbia could “start as early as the New Year”, while just two days ago the Canadian Press reported on the probability of a new oil pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia with an article headlined Carney tells business crowd a new pipeline project is ‘going to happen’.
What would be the impact in megatonnes of the PRGT pipeline and associated Ksi Lisims LNG export facility? How would this impact the Canadian government’s 2030 and 2035 greenhouse gas reduction targets? What risks do Indigenous land and environmental defenders prepared to blockade the construction of this pipeline face? Does COP30 (or any future COP) offer any hope for both the actual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the safety of land and environmental defenders?
In short, what can COP30 achieve?
COP30
On November 11, Global Witness notes “coalitions of defenders, allied NGOs, and government representatives” will officially launch the Leaders Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders (LEAD) at COP30.
Indigenous Climate Action (ICA), an Indigenous-led climate justice organization from Turtle Island (Canada), will also be sending a delegation to COP30 and will be “following and acting on key moments that could threaten the rights and self-determination of Indigenous peoples globally”. Among the events the ICA will be participating in include Women for Climate Justice Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, that will in part discuss “support for women land defenders”.
COP30 is scheduled to conclude on November 21. Texas-based Western LNG, one of the companies behind the PRGT pipeline, says the consortium is aiming to make a final investment decision on the pipeline by the end of this year.
We continue to follow this.
Additional reading: How climate activists and environmental defenders can stay safe at COP30 (Open Briefing, November 3, 2025).