Brazil begins three weeks of events related to the COP30 climate summit on Monday, hoping to showcase a world that remains committed to tackling global warming. That can be difficult in a year marked by economic turmoil and canceled US commitments.
Business leaders meeting in Sao Paulo are pushing for stronger policies to finance the energy transition, and in an open letter on Monday they are asking governments “urgently” for incentives to adopt renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.
“It’s a recognition from business groups of the importance of multilateralism and the importance of raising ambition,” said CEO Maria Mendiluce of the We Mean Business Coalition, which coordinated the letter from 35 groups representing 100,000 companies.
In Rio de Janeiro on Monday, mayors, governors and other lower-level officials will attend a summit of local leaders that threatens to be overshadowed by protests against the city’s bloody crackdown on crime a week earlier.
Britain’s Prince William will preside alone at a ceremony in Rio to award his annual Earthshot Prize, which recognizes contributions to environmentalism over the past year.
But countries and corporations may struggle to project the same optimism that has marked climate diplomacy in recent years.
Today, global cooperation stagnates amid geopolitical tensions and multiple wars. An erratic series of U.S. tariffs has disrupted economic stability around the world, while U.S. reversals on clean energy policy and climate science have rattled investors. And while the cost of renewable energy has fallen below fossil fuel levels, many countries are juggling competing goals such as food security or the development of artificial intelligence.
Business leaders still hope to make clean energy policy a priority. “It makes strong business sense and ensures energy security and competitiveness,” said Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera, chairman of Spain’s Green Growth Group.
Brazil is this year’s host of the 33rd anniversary of the Earth Summit in Rio, where countries first signed a UN treaty committing to tackling climate change.
The summit has since evolved into a major multilateral forum that brings together rich and poor countries with scientists and civil society to address the climate threat. So far, however, it has failed to halt the rise in carbon emissions, although the pace has slowed. Since the treaty was signed, about 40% of industrial-era emissions have been released into the atmosphere.
When attending the annual summit, leaders typically seek to reaffirm their country’s commitment and hold each other accountable. However, COP30 is likely to see the lowest turnout of world leaders since 2019, when around 50 heads of state traveled to Madrid for COP25.
Brazil’s presidency confirmed “fewer than 60” leaders as of Saturday at the leaders’ summit to be held Nov. 6-7 in the Amazonian city of Belem. Last year’s COP29 in Baku was attended by more than 80 people, after more than 100 at the previous three summits in Dubai, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and Glasgow.
The main summit on November 10-21 in Belem has also seen fewer people register in the recent past than the COP. With limited hotel capacity and high room prices in Belem, only about 12,200 people had registered as of Oct. 8, according to preliminary figures from the UN climate agency.
Last year’s COP29 in Baku had more than 54,000 visitors, while Dubai’s COP28 attracted nearly 84,000. Brazil said it expected more than 45,000.
Planning for COP30 has caused months of anxiety among countries struggling to find affordable accommodation, with some eventually planning to scale back their delegations.
It also brought more people to finance-focused events this week in Sao Paulo or a summit of local leaders in Rio.
“It’s great to see so many business leaders and mayors coming together in Brazil on the eve of COP30 to showcase their climate action and look for opportunities to work together and move faster,” said Dan Ioschpe, chairman of Brazilian auto parts maker Ioschpe-Maxion, who is leading COP30 efforts to catalyze action by businesses and other non-state actors.
Brazil said the placement in Belem was intended to shake up by putting indigenous communities at the center of the talks.
A flotilla of indigenous leaders and activists is making its way down the Amazon River to Belem, where the groups plan to deliver a list of protection demands to world leaders later this week. During the conference, many indigenous groups plan to camp in the rainforest around the city.
