The latest sustainability policy and regulatory news from COP30The week that was

Following last week’s leaders’ summit, COP30 in Brazil started in full force on Monday.

The conference has seen clashes between protesters and security, a flooded venue and the arrival of a flotilla of more than 200 boats, but the talks themselves have been less exciting.

Delegates have spent most of the week in deadlock over climate finance, nationally determined contributions, trade measures and climate reporting.

The COP30 presidency is hoping to reach agreement on a road map to transition the global economy away from fossil fuels.

Reports published this week by the International Energy Agency and think-tank Ember suggested that the market may, slowly, be heading in that direction. While overall emissions continue to increase, 2025 could mark a turning point in the energy transition as fossil fuel generation flatlines, found Ember.

Nonetheless, Zero Carbon Analytics research, also out this week, showed that $8.7tn has been invested in oil and gas in the decade since the Paris Agreement, painting a more sobering picture. For every dollar the oil and gas industry invested in clean energy in the past 10 years, it spent $46 on upstream oil and gas supply, found the analysis.

Person in the news

The EU has been one of the more climate-progressive voices at recent COP events, but questions are being asked about its leadership as it waters down its own, admittedly ambitious, environmental laws.

On Thursday, MEPs voted to slash sustainability and due diligence rules.

The changes would mean that businesses no longer have to adopt transition plans, fewer companies would be covered by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and any obligations in case of infringements of human rights in the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive would be removed.

MEPs also voted in favour of a 2040 climate target to cut emissions by 90 per cent, which would allow countries to use carbon credits to meet part of their emissions reduction goals.

European People’s party MEP Jörgen Warborn has led negotiations on the omnibus package. He said that the vote on the CSRD and the CSDDD cuts “excessive reporting obligations” for businesses and boosts competitiveness.

Many EU companies have been left frustrated by the proposed changes as they seek legal stability and a level playing field.

Meanwhile, the US government and an influential group of American companies have seen their lobbying efforts pay off.

Energy

Fifteen countries have joined the Belém 4x pledge to quadruple global sustainable fuel output. The initiative was proposed by Brazil alongside Italy, Japan and India ahead of COP30. It is backed by an October report by the IEA that envisions a quadrupling of these fuels by 2035, including a doubling of biofuels. Numerous non-profits have warned such an ambitious target could prompt unintended consequences, not least deforestation and land degradation from growing crops to produce biofuels.

Nigeria and California have signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance co-operation on their respective emissions reduction targets. The five-year agreement, signed by officials on Tuesday in Belém, seeks to further Nigeria’s goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2060 and California’s 2045 climate neutrality target. As part of the deal, the two parties commit to work together to advance progress on the rollout of zero-emission vehicles, low-carbon fuels, renewable energy integration and climate adaptation.

Finance

On Monday, the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, agreed at COP28, issued its first call for proposals. The initial phase, known as the Barbados implementation modalities, will offer $250mn total funding for 2025 and 2026. The fund will help countries manage losses and damages from climate change that cannot be adapted to. Countries affected can apply for funding of between $5mn and $20mn from December 15 to June 15 2026. To date, $768mn has been pledged by 27 countries and regions. Of this amount contribution agreements are in place for $561mn, while only $400mn has been paid into the fund. Estimates for the true costs of developing countries’ loss and damage needs are as much as $400bn.

The nearly 12,000 companies disclosing with global non-profit the Carbon Disclosure Project reported more than $54bn in annual savings from low-carbon initiatives in 2024, showed research from the organisation. The report said companies with transition plans are nearly twice as likely to identify short-term opportunities for growth and cost savings (51 per cent versus 28 per cent) and are better prepared for physical climate impacts (74 per cent assess both acute and chronic physical risks, compared with 43 per cent of those without plans).

Multilateral development banks have doubled their investments in adaptation and resilience since 2019, delivering $26bn to low and middle-income countries in 2024, said a statement from 10 MDBs released at the start of COP30. In 2024, MDBs provided $137bn in mitigation and adaptation finance and mobilised an additional $134bn in private capital.

The Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, based out of the London School of Economics, has published an “entirely feasible path” for the mobilisation of $1.3tn annually in non-government public and private climate finance for developing countries by 2035, as agreed under the new collective quantified goal at COP29. To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, emerging markets and developing economies other than China will need a total investment of $3.2tn a year by 2035, including climate finance from international governments, the report said. Of this: $2.05tn is needed for the clean energy transition; $400bn for adaptation and resilience; $350bn for loss and damage; $350bn for conserving natural capital; and $50bn to ensure a just transition for workers and communities.

The presidencies of COP29 and COP30 published their own Baku to Belém road map on the $1.3tn annual goal last week.

On Monday, the UK government ran a session on the progress of the Industrial Decarbonisation Hub, a joint investment partnership between the governments of Brazil and the UK. The scheme, first launched in 2023, is designed to accelerate industrial decarbonisation and low-emission hydrogen development.

UK Export Finance has signed a reinsurance agreement with Brazil’s export credit agency ABGF to support sustainable trade financing. The deal will allow Brazilian exports containing UK materials to access UKEF-backed guarantees and will pave the way for collaboration on energy projects, said the government.

Meanwhile, the UK government announced on Thursday plans to publish its first progress report on the Net Zero Export Credit Agencies Alliance since the initiative’s launch at COP28 in 2023.

Biodiversity

Ahead of COP30, the International Sustainability Standards Board announced plans to develop disclosure requirements covering nature-related risks and opportunities. The rules, which may be introduced as either guidance, amendments to the ISSB’s existing framework, or as its own separate standard, will draw on recommendations put forward by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. The standard setter aims to have a draft of its proposed rules ready for COP17, the next UN biodiversity summit due to take place in October 2026 in Armenia. Following the announcement, the TNFD said it will be pausing work on its technical guidance to focus on supporting the ISSB’s work programme.

Food and farming

The Catalytic Capital for the Agricultural Transition fund has launched at COP30 with initial investment of $50mn from philanthropies and the government of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative. The fund aims to support deforestation and conversion-free soya, cattle production and agroforestry by de-risking and improving financial terms for farmers, banks and supply chain companies operating in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado regions. For every $1 of catalytic capital, the CCAT aims to unlocks $4 of commercial finance. The fund will be managed by Vox Capital, and seeks to secure $200mn in catalytic capital and unlock an additional $800mn in commercial investment by 2028.

The Gates Foundation, the philanthropy established by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, has announced a four-year, $1.4bn investment in innovations that help farmers across sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia adapt to extreme weather. The proposed investments include digital advisory services, climate-resilient crops, and livestock and soil health innovations. Gates said the investment is in line with his recently announced strategy of “prioritising climate investments for maximum human impact”.

Separately, the Gates Foundation, the governments of Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, and Google have launched an open-source artificial intelligence large language model for agriculture, which they said will support more than 100mn farmers by 2028 with decision-making and risk management. International donors together announced around $2.8bn for the LLM and other farmer adaptation and resilience projects at the Agricultural Innovation Showcase at COP30.

Another large philanthropy, the Rockefeller Foundation, announced grants worth $5.4mn for regenerative food in Brazil. The grants are being awarded to 12 organisations working on food resilience, as well as Brazil’s national school meals programme.

Non-profit Wrap has warned that only 30 out of the almost 200 countries attending COP30 have included plans to reduce food loss and/or waste as part of their nationally determined contributions, up from six at COP29. Just seven countries have committed to tackling both. Around 10 per cent of global emissions can be attributed to food waste within agriculture, production and households, Wrap warned. Reducing food waste can lower methane emissions and improve food resilience, it added.

Forth-three countries and the EU have signed the Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty and Human-Centred Climate Action. The declaration calls for a scaling up of investment into adaptation, particularly to shield populations from hunger caused by climate change, and includes eight measurable goals. Signatory countries are encouraged to embed human-centred climate action strategies in their NDCs, national adaptation plans, and other climate commitments, with progress to be assessed in 2028 and a full stocktaking by 2030.

Countries’ reliance on “unrealistic” land-based carbon removals to cut emissions risks disrupting biodiversity, food production and the livelihoods of local communities, the 2025 Land Gap Report has found. The report, published by international climate experts at COP30, assessed the land needed for carbon removals in countries’ climate pledges. It found that such pledges now cover more than 1bn hectares of land, a level the report said is “far beyond what is feasible or sustainable”. The report authors also warned of a significant “forest gap”, highlighting that current pledges could see around 20mn ha of forest being lost or degraded each year by 2030.

Waste and materials

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the One Planet Network, hosted by the UN Environment Programme, have launched the Global Circularity Protocol. The protocol is a voluntary framework encouraging businesses to measure, manage and communicate their circular performance and impacts across value chains.

Just transition

On the opening day of COP30, negotiators published a statement calling for a “new, ambitious and action-oriented” gender action plan to be adopted under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Having adopted the first plan of its kind at COP23 in 2017, and later revising it in 2019, the parties are now seeking a stronger, more inclusive plan to be adopted at this year’s climate summit. At its release, the statement had been signed by 92 countries, including the members of coalitions such as the Alliance of Small Island States and the Alliance of Independent Latin American and Caribbean States, as well as the EU, the UK and Canada.

More than 35 governments, philanthropies and donor alliances have signed the Forest and Land Tenure Pledge. Together, the signatories commit to providing $1.8bn of funding across a four-year period to support initiatives strengthening the land rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities.

Meanwhile, more than 35 philanthropies announced on Thursday an initial pledge of $300mn to address the climate crisis and its health impacts. The first round of funding will go towards initiatives designed to improve global response to extreme heat, air pollution and climate-sensitive infectious diseases. It will also support the better integration of climate and health data, with the aim of building resilient health systems. The announcement came just hours before the release of the Belém Health Action Plan by the Brazilian government, a road map designed to improve the resilience of countries’ health systems to the changing climate.

More than 375 organisations and individuals have signed an open letter calling for “a strong, ambitious and mandatory decision at COP30 to uphold information integrity on climate change”. The letter warned that vested interests, principally the fossil fuel industry, continue to fund disinformation campaigns against climate science. The call follows a report from the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition of non-profits outlining the Brazilian disinformation environment leading up to COP30 and the influence of big tech companies on online disinformation.

Meanwhile, six countries joined the UN-led Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change: Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. By 2028, the initiative aims to: support more than 10 countries in developing new legal frameworks; mobilise $10mn through Unesco’s Global Fund for Information Integrity on Climate Change; and establish a Charter of Principles for Accountable Climate Advertising to be adopted by 15 or more leading publishers, digital platforms and AI companies.

The group of Least Developed Countries, made up of 44 nations spanning Africa, the Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean most at risk from climate change, have called for renewed momentum from delegates in addressing the climate finance gap, including a tripling of grant-based adaptation finance by 2030.

On Thursday, the Leaders Action Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders launched. LEAD is an initiative intended to centre the experience of land defenders in environmental justice. It aims to secure the recognition of defenders, strengthen their meaningful participation in climate decision and policymaking, and increase their protection and reduce violence against them.

The Global Initiative on Jobs and Skills for the New Economy launched on Wednesday and published its flagship report showing that the climate transition could create an estimated 225mn to 530mn new jobs over the next decade, and adaptation activities could generate between 190mn to 375mn new jobs over the same period. Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa and Egypt have committed to working with the initiative, which aims to bring together 20 countries and 40 institutions by 2028.