By Yandra França (UFPA/CFC-GS)
We are less than 15 days away from the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 30, in Belém, which is already shaping up to be a historic event. It will inaugurate the heart of the Amazon—the largest tropical biome on the planet—as the stage for climate negotiations. Traditionally, conferences have been dominated by countries in the Global North, which hold economic, political, and diplomatic power. However, for the first time, we can see the narrative changing: countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa want to show that they have the natural, human, and cultural resources to lead an ecological transition. This puts the Global South at the center of the green economy agenda.
The Gambia’s chief negotiator, Malang Sambou Manneh, recently stated in an interview with IPS that this COP would offer a unique opportunity to rebalance global climate leadership. For him, “This COP cannot be shrouded in vagueness. There is too much at stake.” Sambou also described how this COP differs from others, precisely because of the position taken by countries in the southern hemisphere on issues related to the monumental challenge of climate finance and fossil fuels. At the same time, the negotiator argued about the difficulties related to the green transition for these nations: “Developing countries have also begun to discover their oil and gas, but they should not touch them to accelerate their own development and, instead, should move on to renewable energies. It is a complex situation.”
There are also expectations regarding the launch of the “Baku Roadmap in Belém,” which connects COP29 with this year’s conference, with a target of US$1.3 trillion per year. The new target aims to mobilize financial resources for developing countries. We also note the great commitment of these countries to meet their climate goals, while European countries and the United States continue to fail to meet their respective commitments. In October, Brasília hosted the preparatory meetings for the United Nations Conference, at which André Guimarães, Executive Director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, stated: “We are facing the moment of the Global South. It is the Global South that must lead the planet. The Global South must define the priorities. Europe has refrained from participating so far. We are less than 30 days away from COP30, and Europe has not made a statement or presented an NDC. The United States, another important country in the Global North, has already announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. So, we are now at a moment when the Global South has to work,” which reinforces the thesis that the countries of the South will be at the center of this conference.
I dare say, then, that countries such as India—even though it has not submitted its NDCs and is one of the biggest polluters on the planet—China (which has exceeded expectations in terms of its contribution to the environment), and Suriname (which recently requested donations from developed countries to invest in measures to combat the climate crisis) will be big names at this edition of the Conference.
Furthermore, one thing is certain: this edition will be financial, just as it was in Baku. Climate financing is still an obstacle, and it is in this scenario that emerging countries tend to position themselves and finally move from being dependent to becoming leaders of the new development model. Of course, this path is turbulent and complex, since land conflicts, power asymmetries, and limited infrastructure are still a reality in many of these states. For us, we can only hope that the positive outlook will materialize, dispelling the greenwashing tendencies of the event. The positioning of emerging territories will be more than decisive in ensuring that this COP is much more than a green showcase, leading to significant advances in the global green transition, led by the southern hemisphere.
