What is Cop30 – and will it change anything?

But it’s not just governments that are involved in the climate fight, and, in theory, Cops present a vital opportunity for wider society to demand urgent and far-reaching action. Attendees include royals and celebrity activists, as well as Indigenous groups and non-profit organisations. Yet the summits have been heavily criticised for excluding these important voices from the talks themselves, and for being held in global capitals that are expensive and time-consuming for such groups to get to.

Why is Cop in Brazil?

The Cop venue changes every year. And as president-elect in 2022, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that year he’d bid to hold it in Belém in 2025. Many saw it as a chance for Brazil to regain its reputation for global climate leadership after his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, risked making it a pariah.

The decision to host the talks in the Amazon is seen as highly symbolic, drawing attention to the threats faced by the rainforest and its peoples. The forest helps regulate the region’s climate but it has been devastated by widespread deforestation and forest degradation – and significant parts of it have emitted more carbon than they stored over long periods. This, in turn, could lead to an increase in extreme weather events.