NEW DELHI: Seeking to put up a strong front “beyond negotiating talks” in the wake of the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the Brazilian COP30 Presidency on Monday invited all presidencies of the UN climate conference from COP21 (France) to COP29 (Azerbaijan) to form a “Circle of Presidencies” for a fight back through effective use of multilateralism.
The COP30 president-designate, André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, wrote a letter to all member countries of the UN climate body, appealing to them to collectively advise on the political process and measures to be taken up to deal with the challenges of climate change.
The 10-page letter sought to set out how Belem (host Brazilian city of the 2025 UN climate conference in November) should usher in a new era on climate “beyond negotiating talks,” asking leaders to put into practice what they have agreed.
The letter, reinforcing the Brazilian Presidency’s push for multilateral action to address the urgency of the climate crisis, comes at a time when there have been discussions among a section of experts to take up goal-oriented meetings on implementing countries’ climate commitment by looking beyond the mega annual UN climate conference processes.
“The ‘Circle of Presidencies’ will help ensure COP30 honours and synthesizes the legacies of previous COPs while reflecting on the ongoing agenda and the future of our process and of global climate governance,” said Corrêa do Lago in his letter.
Asking leaders for channeling “collective wisdom”, he called for governments, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and the private sector to accelerate financial flows and set out how they will align to the Paris Agreement and meet the $1.3 trillion Baku climate finance goal.
“The COP30 president’s letter is a strong message in defense of multilateralism, emphasizing that individual solutions alone are not enough to tackle the global challenge of climate change. Only through dialogue and cooperation – of which the COP is a key platform – can we adopt collective solutions to a problem that directly impacts people’s lives everywhere,” said Alexandre Prado, climate change lead at WWF-Brazil.
Pitching for “Global Ethical Stocktake” as an initiative to reinforce the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels, the COP30 president-designate also called for input from “thinkers, scientists, politicians, religious leaders” and others as well as a “Circle of Indigenous Leadership” for jointly taking up what is required to save the planet.
“With this, the Brazilian presidency of COP30 seeks to drive a global movement of cooperation among nations to confront climate change, anchored in the strengthening of multilateralism, the only viable path to achieving this mission,” said Marina Silva, Brazil’s minister of environment and climate change.
Besides committing to advancing progress on the Global Stocktake and COP28 (UAE) goals of tripling renewable energy capacity, doubling of energy efficiency and transitioning away from fossil fuels, the COP30 presidency letter also called for prioritizing the protection and restoration of forests, saying they can “buy us time in climate action in our rapidly closing window of opportunity.”
