Startups, Territory, and Climate Transition: What COP 30 Demands from Us Now OPINION July 1st, 2025

Aerial photo of the city of Belém, author unknown

Startups, Territory, and Climate Transition: What COP 30 Demands from Us Now

By Claudia Andrade

In November 2025, Brazil will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) for the first time. The event will take place in Belém do Pará, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon — bringing together over 190 official delegations, around 40,000 international participants, billions of dollars in climate funding, and a rare global spotlight on our country.

But what does this really mean for impact startups emerging from Brazil’s deepest territories? Those developing social technologies focused on sanitation, agroecology, clean water, waste management, bioeconomy, and environmental education?

As a climate impact entrepreneur with over three decades of experience in vulnerable regions — from Bahia’s drylands to rural Mozambique — I can’t see COP 30 as just another climate summit. I see a crossroads: either we keep replicating the same power structures and funding patterns, or we embrace a new era of innovation that is territorial, regenerative, and decentralized. And startups must be ready for that shift.

At COP 27 in Egypt, more than USD 11 billion in financial commitments were announced in just a few days. The Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world’s largest multilateral climate fund, has already approved over USD 13 billion in mitigation and adaptation projects and is expected to expand efforts in the Global South in the coming years.

Brazil is a top priority: home to the world’s largest tropical forest, 20% of the planet’s biodiversity, and 12% of its surface freshwater, the country is a cornerstone of global climate negotiations. Yet paradoxically, it remains underfunded in structural public policies:

We still have more than 33 million Brazilians without access to treated water (SNIS, 2023);

Roughly 46% of the population lacks access to sewage collection and treatment;

In 2024, Brazil recorded the highest number of Amazon wildfires since 2007 (INPE);

And we continue to face alarming levels of food insecurity, environmental racism, and digital exclusion.

So the pressing question is: what kind of innovation does Brazil need to showcase to the world at COP 30?

Impact Startups: Real Potential, Still Invisible

Brazil currently has about 1,300 mapped impact startups, according to Pipe.Social’s Impact Monitor — and the number is growing. Many are working directly on strategic themes for the global climate agenda: water, sanitation, renewable energy, waste management, regenerative agriculture, and territorial justice.

However, less than 10% of these startups have access to public or international funding. Most rely on personal capital, small rounds, or low-value national grants. That must change. And COP 30 could be the turning point.

Being ready for COP 30 goes far beyond a polished pitch deck or a drone-shot video. It means presenting technological solutions with depth, territorial legitimacy, and measurable impact. It means:

1. Mastering your impact: Translate results into clear social and technical indicators: emission reductions, improved water access, public health gains, community engagement, presence in public schools, decreased dropout rates, and increased local income.

2. Understanding funding pathways:Map out calls from global climate funds like GCF, CIF, GEF, and national public financing tools such as BNDES Fundo Clima, Finep, and state-level innovation grants. Learn how partnerships with accredited entities work.

3. Knowing how to sell to governments:Understand Brazil’s new public procurement law (Law No. 14.133/21), leverage parliamentary amendments to enter territories, and navigate sustainable public procurement pathways.

4. Strengthening regional networks:Connect with local ecosystems and cooperative networks. Isolated startups don’t scale. But when connected to cooperatives, public schools, inter-municipal consortia, universities, and support networks, they gain real reach and institutional strength.

   
   

The question that drives me is not “how to appear at COP 30.” It’s: what will remain after it’s over?

What technologies will stay in public schools?

How many municipalities will become more resilient?

How many startups will move beyond one-off grants and secure sustainable contracts with governments and impact-driven investors?

COP 30 could mark the start of a new era — one in which Brazil exports climate solutions, not just commodities.

In recent years, I’ve helped structure projects in over 100 communities through SDW, focused on accessible technologies for sanitation, water, and environmental education. And with COP 30 approaching, I’m offering my experience to support:

• Growth-stage startups looking to develop an impact model;

• Teams that need to understand how to work with the public sector without relying solely on tenders;

• Young entrepreneurs preparing to pitch solutions in international climate calls;

• Networks seeking to design a COP 30 legacy for their territories.

  
  

Because in the end, it’s not about the event. It’s about the future. What drives me is not COP 30 — it’s what we do with it. It’s making sure the semi-arid regions are heard. That Indigenous youth take the lead. That Black women in family farming drive technology. That solutions are not only scaled but recognized as strategic knowledge for the world.

If COP 30 can show this Brazil, then it will have been worth it.And if not now — when?

#SDG13 #SDG11 #SDG6 #SDG1 #SDG4 #SDG12 #SDG10 #SDG17

http://linkedin.com/in/claudia-andrade-aa0b4935

@cauvic2