Climate adaptation should be a priority at COP30, says ambassador. November 4, 2025

Photo © Diogo Zacarias

Climate adaptation should be a priority at COP30, says ambassador

Just over 60 countries have submitted their mitigation targets.

Elaine Patricia Cruz – Reporter for Agência Brasil

Published on 03/11/2025 - 20:55

São Paulo

Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, president of the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30), said this Monday (3), in São Paulo, that he hopes the issue of climate adaptation will be an “absolute priority” at COP30, an event that will be held this month in Belém (PA).

“Climate negotiations are generally divided into mitigation, which is the reduction of emissions, and adaptation, which many people thought: ‘we won’t work on adaptation, because otherwise it’s giving up, it’s abandoning mitigation.’ That wasn’t the case, but now it’s even less so, because with the acceleration of climate change, you need adaptation enormously, and the world’s population is much more sensitive to adaptation efforts because it affects people’s lives. So, adaptation is an absolute priority for this COP,” he declared.

“I hope people remember this COP as a COP of adaptation,” he emphasized to journalists after participating in the COP 30 Business & Finance Forum, promoted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, in São Paulo.

In general, the COP uses two major strategies to deal with climate change: mitigation actions, which refer to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to curb warming; and adaptation, which would be a way of adjusting to deal with the existing or inevitable impacts of the climate crisis.

Just days before the start of COP30, only slightly more than 60 countries have submitted their mitigation targets, that is, their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). During the opening of the event, the ambassador stated that this may be a result of countries wanting to present targets that are actually achievable.

“We didn't expect this because the deadline [for submitting] the NDCs was February, but the truth is that countries realized how complex it is to create a good NDC. And now that many people already have the entire structure, the support, and the verification, countries want to present credible NDCs, and they need to negotiate them within their respective countries to ensure that they are really proposing something feasible,” he explained.

Fund for Forests

The ambassador also commented on the Brazilian government's expectation of securing US$10 billion in public investments from countries for the Tropical Forest Fund (TFFF) by the end of Brazil's COP presidency. The fund is a mechanism aimed at protecting forests and provides that countries that preserve their tropical forests will be financially rewarded through a global investment fund.

"I think it's a huge success because this is a very innovative mechanism," commented Lago.

Earlier, during the same event, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, commented that this is an ambitious but achievable proposal. "If we finish the first year with US$10 billion in public resources, it would be a great achievement," he said.

According to the ambassador, this proposal from the Brazilian government could be very successful.

“Perhaps it will contribute to solving one of the most difficult things in the economy, which is to assign a value to standing forests. For years everyone has been saying that this has to happen, that it has to be done, and that it hasn't been achieved. Therefore, the idea is good, and the way it's being prepared has been very careful, precisely to attract the world's confidence. I think the progress has been truly exceptional,” he declared.

Published on November 3, 2025 in Agencia Brasil