Was COP30 in Brazil another cop-out for climate action?

The location of COP30 – in the heart of the Amazon – could be seen as a masterstroke of either symbolism or greenwashing.

And as The Grocer went to press during the final days of the United Nations’ annual climate summit, the latter interpretation was looking increasingly persuasive, according to many climate NGOs.

Landmark policy commitments have been notably thin on the ground. Instead, headlines have been dominated by host Brazil’s treatment of the Amazon’s indigenous people, along with the heavy influence of its powerful agrifood lobby and slow progress on earlier COP targets.

So, what can we take from the UN’s so-called ‘Summit of Truth’, and does it deliver hope of meaningful progress against climate challenges?

Absent leaders

COP30 has come at a pivotal time for green efforts. Ten years after the Paris Climate Agreement set a target to limit global heating at 1.5°C, UN secretary general António Guterres has acknowledged a breach of that figure is now “inevitable”.

Global emission reduction ambitions have been further thwarted by a lack of high-level political engagement by governments. Donald Trump followed his dismissal of climate science as a “con job” last month by refusing to engage with the COP process – resulting in no US representation of note in host city Belém.

Other no-shows from the world’s biggest emitters include China’s president Xi Jinping and Indian PM Narendra Modi.

BBC analysis this week suggested the leaders of 160 countries had swerved the summit, in stark contrast to the bumper attendance at 2015’s COP21 in Paris.

However, the UK’s energy security and net zero secretary Ed Miliband was present, advocating financial support both for the transition away from fossil fuels, tropical forest protection and for developing countries at risk from climate change.

Lobbyists

While it may have failed to attract key global leaders, COP30 was not short of lobbyists.

Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter, and that influence was felt across all aspects of the summit.

Protein giants such as JBS, Minerva and MBRF had been “working overtime” to avoid mandatory regulation via lobbying and greenwashing, claimed a damning report by NGO Changing Markets Foundation earlier this month.

They had spent millions of dollars on marketing campaigns in the run-up to COP30 to portray themselves as “environmental stewards”, the report added, with JBS also sponsoring the summit’s media zone.

JBS’ controversial owners, the Batista brothers, were even afforded the luxury of VIP passes to the summit.

The influence of the agrifood lobby on proceedings was laid bare in analysis published by climate news outlet DeSmog and The Guardian this week. It revealed more than 300 lobbyists for food and farming organisations had participated at the talks – up 14% on last year’s COP29 in Azerbaijan.

Protests

The presence of agrifood giants has sparked a series of protests over the past two weeks. They have particularly focused on the plight of indigenous people, whose frustrations have been “boiling over”, according to NGOs.

In a ‘People’s Protest’ last Saturday, thousands took to the streets of Belém in a call for “more action” on already faltering climate targets from earlier COP summits.

That was followed by a ‘Kick Big Polluters Out’ protest on Tuesday, specifically targeting agrifood lobbyists.

“This is the moment to scale systemic solutions that address the root causes of the crisis,” said Camila Mikie Nakaharada, climate manager at World Animal Protection Brazil. “No more seats for a production model that devastates ecosystems and deepens the climate emergency. No more seats for greenwashing.” 

Missed targets

Irrespective of any further targets agreed by the summit’s conclusion, COP30 has been described as a “turning point” in the climate debate by Brazil’s vice-president Geraldo Alckmin.

“The world must stop debating goals and start fulfilling them,” he declared this week, urging a “move from negotiation to implementation”.

The statement was given added resonance by new evidence of a lack of progress toward the Global Methane Pledge – which requires a 30% cut in emissions of the “climate superheater”, against 2020 levels, by 2030.

The Global Methane Status Report, published on Monday by the UN Environment Programme and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, revealed emissions of the gas were still rising, despite methane mitigation being “one of the most powerful and cost-effective strategies to slow near-term warming”.

While global emissions of methane are expected to drop over the coming years, efforts still fall “far short” of the GMP’s 30% target, says Changing Markets CEO Nusa Urbancic. Just 4% of nationally determined contributions (NDCs, aka national climate plans) even quantify time-bound agricultural methane targets, she adds.

Brazil is one of the main culprits on this issue, with agriculture accounting for 75.6% of its methane emissions, and 74% of its total emissions, with its NDC avoiding the issue altogether.

Read more: Brazil denounced for ‘greenwashing’ as meat sector set for centre stage at COP30

Governments who signed the pledge met at COP30 on Monday but “failed to adequately address the shortfalls in a subsequent statement”, according to Greenpeace.

“Nor did the statement place sufficient attention on growing agricultural methane emissions – one of the key drivers of global methane emissions,” the organisation adds.

Mighty Earth UK director Gemma Hoskins warns: “Without urgent measures, agricultural methane emissions are set to rise by 17% by 2050, largely due to increases in livestock herd growth in Africa and Latin America.”

It’s a similar story on the transition away from fossil fuels and an end to deforestation. A Greenpeace report published on Monday complained of “insufficient ambition” in the NDCs of G20 countries.

The grouping of nations is responsible for 80% of global emissions, but according to the NGO’s 2035 Climate Ambition Gap study, their current NDC plans amount to just a 23%-29% cut in emissions, compared with the “60% reduction needed globally”.

Concerns also continue to mount over the future of the Amazon Soy Moratorium. Restrictions on the sale of soya grown on land cleared in the rainforest since 2008 risk being lifted next year, following fierce political pressure.

No progress had made on this issue at the time of writing, said the UK-based Retail Soy Group.

What positives?

But there are, at least some positives. On deforestation, the Brazilian government has announced the creation of 10 new indigenous territories, following the creation of 11 last year.

Meanwhile, the UN Environment Programme launched a Food Waste Breakthrough initiative at the summit that aims to “unite governments, cities, and civil society to halve global food waste by 2030 and cut methane emissions by up to 7%”.

“The world wastes an unforgiveable amount of food each year, in every country, rich and poor,” says Inger Andersen, UNEP executive director. “Reducing this food waste is key to addressing hunger and cutting methane emissions from landfill – decisive action to lower global temperatures, save money, and tackle food insecurity at the same time.”

It follows warnings by food waste charity Wrap last week that just 30 countries at COP30 had committed to tackle food loss and/or waste in their NDCs, up by just six since COP29.

In response, Wrap CEO Catherine David describes the announcement as “hugely welcome”, hailing the initiative, as bringing “real change”.

It is now “important that more countries now step forward”, she urges, adding “30 countries is too few for such a huge driver of emissions – 10% of global emissions are linked to food waste – and we are calling on more to rectify this”.

Read more: Big agrifood brands targeted at COP30 protests

A draft resolution for the summit – the Global Mutirão (which translates to ‘collective effort’ in English) – was announced by the COP presidency on Tuesday.

It aims to “unite humanity in a global mobilisation against climate change”, and includes proposals to “establish an annual consideration” of NDCs and encourages countries to “overachieve” NDC targets.

The resolution also urges countries to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner” – a proposal that had attracted the support of more than 80 countries, including the UK and EU mamber states, by Wednesday afternoon.

But it seems unlikely such pledges will placate the likes of Urbancic, who says COP30 will “underdeliver the urgent and just action we need”.

The summit is due to close on Friday evening.