Nearly 200 countries approved the deal by consensus after two weeks of exhaustive negotiations on the fringes of the rainforest, with the notable absence of the United States as President Donald Trump shunned the talks.
Applause rang out as the gavel was brought down in steamy Belem, capping a dramatic summit that witnessed raucous protests, a damaging fire and massive street marches.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who staked political capital on the success of COP30, said the pact was proof that a fractured world could still unite in crisis.
"The international community faced a choice: to continue or to give up. We chose the first option," Lula said in South Africa, where he was attending a G20 summit. "Multilateralism won."
There was less euphoria in Belem, where defeated European ministers admitted they only took the watered-down deal to keep the entire process from imploding.
"We're not going to hide the fact that we would have preferred to have more," said EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra.
Later, he added: "I know it's a bit intangible, but there is huge value in doing stuff together."
The head of China's delegation at COP30, Li Gao, told AFP that the summit will go down as a success.
"We achieved this success in a very difficult situation, so it shows that the international community would like to show solidarity and make joint efforts to address climate change," Li said.
India hailed a "meaningful" deal in a statement read on behalf of major emerging markets Brazil, South Africa, India and China.
The Alliance of Small Island States -- a bloc of 39 of the world's most climate-imperiled nations -- said the deal was "imperfect, but necessary progress" for a global body that operates by consensus.
- Fossil fuels flop -
Dozens of countries had threatened to walk away from the talks without an exit strategy from oil, gas and coal -- instead, the deal points to a previous pact on fossil fuels, without explicitly using those words.
"We know some of you had greater ambitions for some of the issues at hand," said COP30 president Andre Correa do Lago, who offered to create a voluntary "roadmap" away from fossil fuels as a consolation.
Colombia "does not accept" the deal, said President Gustavo Petro, whose country is hosting a world-first summit on a fossil fuel phaseout in April next year.
The roadmap idea picked up pace after an early endorsement from Lula, but ran into predictable opposition from oil giants like Saudi Arabia, coal producer India, and others.
"President Lula set the bar high in calling for roadmaps to end fossil fuels and deforestation, but a divided multilateral landscape was unable to hurdle it," said Carolina Pasquali from Greenpeace Brazil.
- Money and trade -
Brazil sought to manage expectations of landing a major deal given the state of geopolitics and a hostile United States.
Even so, optimism took root that Brazil -- a champion of developing nations and home to the world's biggest rainforest -- could pull something out of the bag.
In a coup for developing countries, the world agreed to "at least triple" by 2035 money for poorer nations to adapt to climate change.
But this was the bare minimum, one negotiator from Bangladesh told AFP, vowing the "fight will continue."
Raju Pandit, a negotiator from Nepal, said the summit "had not met the expectations of climate vulnerable countries."
In what was seen as a win for China, strong language around trade measures was also included for the first time in a COP deal.
- COP in the Amazon -
Away from the politics, the summit departed sharply in feel compared to COPs of recent years staged in tightly-controlled authoritarian petrostates.
Tens of thousands of people marched in a carnival-like atmosphere on the streets while inside the venue, protesters chanted in the corridors.
But there were unexpected -- and less welcome -- moments of drama as well.
A large fire erupted inside the venue on the second-to-last day, burning through the fabric ceiling and creating a panicked rush for the exits as smoke filled the halls.
Early in the first week, Indigenous protesters stormed the venue and clashed with security in scenes that drew global attention to their plight.
The Amazon made itself felt -- and heard.
The humidity could be stifling and most afternoons, the skies would erupt.
Even in the final plenary, an exhausted Correa do Lago spoke of "the wonderful noise of an Amazon rain" as he struggled to be heard above the din.
What did countries agree to at COP30?
Belem, Brazil (AFP) Nov 22, 2025 -
The COP30 climate summit has drawn to a close after two weeks in the Amazonian city of Belem where protests, street marches and even a fire caused unexpected moments of drama.
But beneath enormous tents erected over a former airport at the edge of the rainforest, nations also adopted some decisions on how to battle climate change.
Here are the main negotiated outcomes, and the voluntary commitments, made during the summit attended by nearly 200 nations:
- Fossil fuels -
The thorniest issues were bundled into a "mutirao" pact -- the summit's slogan, drawn from the Tupi-Guarani word for "collective effort."
The agreement included an initiative for countries to collaborate on a voluntary basis to reduce carbon emissions and strive to limit global warming to 1.5C relative to pre-industrial levels.
It also noted a commitment made by all nations at COP28 in Dubai to "transition away from fossil fuels" -- but this exact phrase, which has become politically sensitive, was not included.
Despite pressure from more than 80 nations from Europe to Latin American to the Pacific, the conference did not adopt a "roadmap" to phase out fossil fuels.
Instead, COP30 president Andre Correa do Lago offered to create one for countries willing to join on a voluntary basis, and another plan to halt deforestation.
- Finance -
The world's poorest nations have long complained they lack the finance for "adaptation" -- measures to protect their economies from rising seas, such as building sea walls, and other impacts of climate change.
In a win for developing countries at COP30, the final agreement "calls for efforts to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035."
In 2024, rich countries agreed to provide $300 billion a year by 2035 in climate finance to developing nations, with no specific amount earmarked for adaptation.
Most of that goes to projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as renewable energy, and not to adaptation -- something developing nations have long complained puts them at a disadvantage.
The "tripling" goal agreed in Belem could mean $120 billion from that $300 billion is earmarked for adaptation, but close observers said clarity was still needed around that target.
- Trade -
For the first time, trade has been included as a pillar of the final text, with a three-year dialogue to take place under the climate framework.
This reflected concerns from countries including China that trade measures -- like taxes on carbon-intensive goods -- could erode export revenues or throw up barriers to green technology sales.
- Forests -
At COP30, Brazil launched a new global investment vehicle that proposes paying out a share of profits to forest-rich countries for every hectare of trees they leave standing.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced during a leaders' summit in Belem last week -- even before COP30 officially started -- the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility.
The TFFF attracted $5.5 billion in pledges from Norway, Germany, Indonesia, France and Brazil -- the biggest contributors.
Ultimately, Brazil is seeking to raise $125 billion in public and private investment, but said the fund could start working even without the full $25 billion in startup capital from governments.
- Methane pledges -
Slashing methane emissions -- the second-largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide -- is considered one of the fastest ways to curb global warming.
Although it remains in the atmosphere for about 12 years, the "super pollutant" is roughly 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year period.
At COP30, seven countries -- Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Norway, Japan and Kazakhstan -- signed a statement vowing to achieve "near zero" methane emissions across the fossil fuel sector.
COP30: Key reactions to climate deal
Belem, Brazil (AFP) Nov 22, 2025 -
Nearly 200 nations on Saturday pushed through a modest deal at the UN's COP30 climate summit in the Amazon region of host country Brazil.
It was welcomed by some as a decent outcome amid fraught negotiations -- and the absence of the United States -- but dismissed as falling short by others.
Here's a round-up of key reactions:
- Lula -
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- who had staked political capital in the success of what he dubbed "the COP of truth" -- applauded that "science prevailed" and "multilateralism won" during the talks.
"We mobilized civil society, academia, the private sector, indigenous peoples, and social movements, making COP30 the COP with the second-highest participation in history."
- Europe -
"We're not going to hide the fact that we would have preferred to have more, to have more ambition on everything," EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told reporters, while saying the deal was still "the right direction."
French ecological transition minister Monique Barbut was more frank: "I couldn't call this COP a success," she said.
But while "this deal won't raise our overall level of ambition," she said "it doesn't disrupt any of the previous momentum" either.
British energy secretary Ed Miliband told AFP "that's what this COP process is like. You look over the long sweep of history -- it had delivered change."
"Every COP has frustrations."
- Colombia -
The president of Colombia Gustavo Petro slammed the deal's lack of plan to phase out fossil fuels, saying Colombia "does not accept" that the declaration "doesn't say with clarity, as science does, that the cause of the climate crisis is fossil fuels."
- India, South Africa, Brazil, China -
But India praised the deal as "meaningful."
"We fully support the (COP30) presidency and recognize the outstanding efforts of the presidency team, including spending many sleepless nights working to ensure that we leave with something meaningful from Belem," said a representative from India, speaking on behalf of the BASIC coalition of Brazil, South Africa, India, and China.
China meanwhile was "happy with the outcome."
China's Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment, Li Gao, told AFP that COP 30 would go down as "success in a very difficult situation."
- Less-developed countries -
Evans Njewa, who represented a group of 44 less-developed countries, said "we didn't win on all fronts, but we got tripling adaptation finance by 2035."
"Thanks for siding with 1.6 billion vulnerable people," Njewa said of the inhabitants of the African, Asian and island countries he reps. "This was our priority, and we made it a red line."
And the Alliance of Small Island States called the deal "imperfect" but still a step towards "progress."
- Guterres -
The head of the United Nations commended the weeks of efforts but said he understood that "many may feel disappointed" with the results, including Indigenous people, youth, and those now feeling the worst impacts of climate change.
"I cannot pretend that COP30 has delivered everything that is needed," read a statement from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said "the gap between where we are and what science demands remains dangerously wide."
"I will continue pushing for higher ambition and greater solidarity."
- NGOs -
The talks also were closely watched by non-governmental organizations working in the climate sector.
The head of the World Resources Institute, Ani Dasgupta, heralded COP30 for delivering "breakthroughs to triple adaptation finance, protect the world's forests and elevate the voices of Indigenous people like never before."
But the formal negotiations fell short in many respects, he said, notably on the lack of a fossil fuel phaseout plan, leading to a "weakened" deal.
Ilan Zugman, Latin American and Caribbean director for the organization 350.org, said that "the lack of concrete commitments in the final text of COP30 shows us who is still benefiting from the delay: the fossil fuel industry and the ultrarich, not those living the climate crisis every day."
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
