Scouting advocates for urgent climate action at COP30 in Brazil

What COP30 delivered, and what still needs to be done

COP30 concluded with a significant agreement to triple funding for climate adaptation in developing nations, and to step up support for workers and communities in the transition to clean energy. Major progress was also made around nationally determined contributions by Member States to the Paris Agreement. However despite the increases, current funding and nationally determined contributions still fall well short of what vulnerable countries and communities need to address the climate crisis, and the impacts of climate change continue to escalate quickly. 

COP30 also achieved a sizeable shift in the number of countries including climate education as a mandatory requirement into their national education curriculums, with more than 150 countries now including climate education in their commitments to equip young people with green skills. 

Since COP27 in 2022, World Scouting has been working together with the Climate Education Coalition to advocate for non-formal education to be recognised in national government strategies and used the opportunity during COP30 to engage with Mariana Silva, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change with the Government of Brazil and Carol Simon, Ministry of Environment with the Government of Panama to continue to push for this acknowledgement.

Yet despite progress on climate adaptation and financing, COP30 failed to deliver a concrete roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels. For young people and current generations already facing the harshest impacts of climate change, the lack of decisive action represents a continuing need to mobilise resources, hold world leaders accountable, and keep putting pressure on governments and institutions to realise systemic change.