COP30 round-up—10 November 2025 (Opening Day)
The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) officially began on 10 November 2025 in Belém, Brazil. The presidency was handed over from H.E. Mukhtar Babayev to André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, following Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29 in November 2024. In his opening address, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, outlined key implementation priorities and called for the acceleration of US$1.3trn in climate finance. He also released an update to the UN Climate Change Secretariat’s 2025 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) synthesis report. In addition, UN experts issued a statement calling for COP30 negotiations to align with the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s Advisory Opinion on climate change, while the EU endorsed a global statement advocating for the adoption of a Gender Action Plan.