UPDATE – At the time of publication talks still continue, now in overtime. See how this particular World Series ends.
Letter from COP30 in Belém, Brazil – University of British Columbia sociologist, David Tindall reports from COP30 – Published in The Tyee, Friday, November 21, 2025
David Tindall, a sociology professor at UBC, is chair of the Environment and Society Minor and principal investigator for the Climate Disinformation and Obstructionism Research Cluster.
I’ve been in Belém, Brazil, attending the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. As we near its wrap-up, everyone here is wondering if two weeks of deliberations will result in a significant decision. Will COP30 produce clarity about how dire the climate crisis has become and better consensus among nations about how to meet the threat?
As we wait to find out, here are a few things that have caught my eye during my time here.
A summit rocked by Indigenous protests
Clamped down conditions prevented protests at several previous COP meetings — but that certainly wasn’t the case this time. Outside the venue, every day of the first week of the conference, protestors gathered and chanted demands. On the second day, Nov. 11, about 150 Indigenous land defenders broke through security and entered the venue. I was on hand to see security guards chase protesters. While there was no apparent intent of violence by the protesters, the security lapse was unprecedented in the history of the COP meetings.
Three days later, Amazonian Indigenous protesters blocked the main entrance of the COP venue for several hours, registering their objections to industrial development in the Amazon and lack of access and consultation about the COP process. I was among the thousands of COP participants who were blocked from entering the conference.
After a while, COP30 president ambassador André Aranha Corrêa do Lago arrived and spent an hour or more chatting and mingling among the protesters. For much of the time, he held an Indigenous baby in his arms. Later at a press conferences, Corrêa do Lago stressed that the protests were peaceful and supported the right of the Indigenous groups to express themselves.
But then came a tightening of security, marked by the presence of a mixture of military police, soldiers, and security guards. Some toted rifles, decked out in armoured riot gear. This effectively halted protests outside the venue in the second week. At a meeting of RINGO (the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations constituency), I heard speakers express concern about the militarization of COP30. They noted the irony that Indigenous land defenders were being prevented from getting close to the venue to express themselves, while the military was protecting the fossil fuel lobbyists within the venue.
When someone attending one of Corrêa do Lago’s daily briefings told him there should be more opportunity for Indigenous peoples to be part of COP30, the veteran Brazilian climate diplomat answered by stating the Belém event had the highest number of accredited Indigenous representatives of any COP to date.
Looking for the ‘road map’
A central focus of corridor conversations has been the possibility of drawing a “Road Map to Transition Away from Fossil Fuels.” But trying to find out what is happening on this topic has been a bit like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.
The idea of such a road map started with COP28 where, for the first time at one of these conferences, there was language in the agreement by the parties specifically mentioning fossil fuels. The resulting so-called UAE Consensus stated: “Transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science…”
People at COP30 were encouraged to hear Brazilian president Lula da Silva open the conference by explicitly asking countries to agree on a road map to transition away from fossil fuels. However, Corrêa do Lago initially poured cold water on this idea. At several of his briefings he repeated that that transitioning away from fossil fuel had not been discussed, was not a negotiation agenda item, and that there were no plans to make it part of a formal agreement.
And yet, more recently Corrêa do Lago opened the window a crack by stating he wasn’t shutting off discussion and parties might include the idea in a “cover decision” that was not part of the formal agreement, and thus would not need to be voted upon.
As of yesterday, 80 countries were reported to support such a road map. Oil states such as Saudi Arabia have reportedly been resisting the push.
Early this morning, I attended a briefing led by the head of Canada’s COP30 delegation, Michael Bonser, associate assistant deputy minister, Environment and Climate Change Canada, who said that Canada has not made a firm commitment on whether to support a road map. Though Canada’s government supports the idea in principle, he said, it wants to hear more details.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to meet Canada’s emissions reductions commitments under the Paris Agreement, but his government has killed the carbon tax and ramped up fossil fuel development projects. Yesterday, Canada had the dubious distinction of being named “Fossil of the Day” by Climate Action Network International. The satirical award has been given out by the activist group at UN climate conferences since 1999.
Climate Action Network International said Canada had earned the recognition for “flushing years of climate action down the drain.” At the briefing for the Canadian delegation, Bonser acknowledged that the government officials, right up to the PM, were aware of being awarded the Fossil of the Day.
AI boosters are grabbing lots of attention
Artificial intelligence relies on data centres which require a tremendous amount of water, energy, and, if powered by fossil fuel, produce a lot of carbon emissions. The physical components for AI rely on mining for critical minerals which also entails environmental harms.
Given those facts, I’ve been surprised to see many COP30 leaders make nods to AI as one of the key technological solutions to the climate crisis, and to see so many sessions on AI at the conference. I attended a number of them, hearing that AI is being used in a wide array of climate crisis applications including mitigation, adaptation, knowledge acquisition and communication.
Former U.S. vice president and Nobel Prize co-winner Al Gore was among speakers noting AI in conjunction with various remote sensing techniques can also be used to identify and track fugitive carbon emissions. He gave a presentation about an organization called Climate TRACE that uses satellites, remote sensing and AI to locate greenhouse gas emissions to help reduce them at their sources.
AI can analyze data to provide advanced warning for climate related disasters, including hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires. Indeed, one of the conference sessions, sponsored by the philanthropic arm of Google, was entitled, “Smarter than the Storm: The Future of AI in Forecasting and Proactive Responses to Build More Resilient Communities”. Google, Microsoft, and other tech companies have been funding a variety of initiatives involving AI applications for addressing climate change.
There were also presentations about AI tools that members of delegations can use in climate negotiations. Presenters from the UN and several universities noted this might even the playing field some, given that at COP30 richer nations have 100 or more members in their delegations, while some poorer nations sometimes have only one or two members.
At UN COP sessions, AI boosters were often closely affiliated with tech companies or the presenters were themselves tech experts and practitioners. In most of the sessions I attended, I heard little to no discussion of the potential harm of AI. In a piece published by The Conversation earlier this week, I wrote at more length about AI’s star turn at COP30.
Who gets to host the next one?
Another topic of chatter in the halls of COP30 has been about where the next meeting will be held. An agreement had been reached that in two years COP32 will be held in Ethiopia, but the location of next year’s COP31 was being competed for by both Turkey and Australia. Small island states were very supportive of the bid by the Australians, who proposed to include them as co-hosts.
In my interactions at the venue, I heard many voices in favour of Australia’s bid, and no one championing Turkey’s. I also heard multiple reports that some entity had been spreading fake news that a decision had already been made in Turkey’s favour. Such false information was allegedly passed on to delegates and media outlets. Finally, reports broke that a compromise had been achieved. Turkey will host COP31 but Australia will hold the presidency of COP31 and lead the negotiations. There were also reports that the small island states were very disappointed in this result.
The COP30 presidency, led by Corrêa do Lago, has received praise for its adept leadership. I heard from multiple sources that the presidency, through astute diplomatic maneuvers, has avoided some of the standoffs that have happened at other COPs. The presidency has also been pushing quite aggressively to insure the conference reaches a decision and ends on time, or perhaps even early.
That said, as of midday on Nov. 20, I can feel the restlessness among thousands gathered here as we wait to see a text of a potential agreement. And, now, shortly after I write that sentence, we find our nerves further jangled, as we are suddenly herded out of the venue, evacuated due to a fire in the pavilion area.
So COP30 will bear this footnote: A small, manageable emergency interrupted final deliberations about the long, monumental emergency that grips our heating planet.
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