COP30: Your Guide to the 2025 UN Climate Conference

The next UN climate conference will be COP30, and it will take place from November 10-21, 2025 in Belém, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pará.

This follows COP29, which brought nearly 200 countries together to coordinate global climate action from November 11-22, 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This guide covers background info about climate COPs, summarizes what happened at COP29 and shares lessons to apply for upcoming COP30.

COP, standing for the Conference of the Parties, is an annual high-level meeting organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

Also known as UN climate change conventions, COPs are important because they bring together delegates from nearly every country on Earth to negotiate global goals for tackling climate change, present their individual countries’ plans for contributing to those goals and report on their progress.

The climate COP meets in a different city every year to demonstrate the importance of collaboration between the world’s nations. COP29 was the 29th climate COP and took place in Baku, Azerbaijan. COP30 will take place this year in Belém, Brazil.

With slow negotiations and difficult consensus-building, COP29 did not see the major wins for climate progress that we had hoped for.

In the conference’s final moments, countries committed to mobilizing US $300 billion per year in climate finance by 2035. That amount is far below the $1 trillion figure widely viewed as the minimum annual commitment to ensure accelerating advancements in climate mitigation and adaptation while safeguarding vulnerable populations.

Nevertheless, there were bright spots, including an agreement that promises to unleash the power of well-regulated carbon markets. There were also positive developments outside the formal negotiations, like refreshed commitments from Brazil and other countries.

Lessons from COP29

1. The road to COP30 will be bumpy. We have immense challenges ahead in overcoming the financial and political gaps between wealthier and poorer nations.
2. We must remain optimistic and forward-looking. The commitments that broke the deadlock at COP29 in Baku will at least prime the pump for climate finance, and lay the groundwork for a more ambitious agreement at COP30 in Belém.
3. To achieve meaningful climate progress, all parties must demand greater transparency and accountability.

Watch the full interview here with TNC’s Global Managing Director Clare Shakya and Climate Policy Advisor Ximena Apéstegui—as they discuss the power of nature in climate finance and the innovative strategies available to harness public and private investment at a planet-sized scale.

We're advocating for a swifter transition to renewable energy sources, greater use of natural climate solutions, and more investment from both the public and private sectors, especially to help those countries that have been most affected by the impacts of climate change.

We're also working to ensure there is increased inclusivity and equity in climate policy processes since the leadership of marginalized groups, like Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), are essential to protecting cultural and biological diversity.

As a global society, we must:

1. Phase out fossil fuels. We must accelerate the equitable phase-out of fossil fuels to achieve net zero by 2050 or sooner and transition to renewable energy.
2. Build climate-resilient societies. We must empower groups who steward nature to secure their homes, livelihoods and futures.
3. Invest in financial flows towards climate. We must inspire commitments and investments in nature-positive projects, policies and practices.

Every action matters. Every ounce of carbon, every fraction of a degree, every day matters. Our leaders’ climate actions matter and your climate actions matter too.