From Johannesburg to Belem: Bravo for reigniting hope for global climate action

AT THE conclusion of the 30th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) , when I ultimately bid farewell to the City of Belem, I felt a sense of relief and hope. A sense underwritten by the promise of what we had achieved from the negotiations and the conference - an outcome which signalled a commitment to action in the face of escalating climate crisis.

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Just as the news broke that the Brazilian presidency had released a final package coined as “global mutirao” - a name meaning “collective efforts”, after an all night negotiations in city of Belem, I thought “maybe, the Amazon never sleeps. The Brazilian Presidency’s’ compact was an earnest attempt to pull together nations on controversial issues that had divided the two weeks of negotiations, on matters including finance, trade policies and meeting the Paris Agreement's 1.5C temperature target.

With the same sense, I proclaimed “the South has punched equal to its weight”. With determination and solid will, President Lula Da Silva and President Cyril Ramaphosa threw multiple punch combinations at pessimists and restored the hope of developing countries, and sent a message that a “a just society is possible”.

COP30 showcased both progress and challenges in global climate negotiations. The proclamation was in equal observation of how South Africa was trailblazing into of her G20 Presidency despite machinations of the United States government, in an attempt to muddy and prevent an outcome that will amplify ramp up decibels from yet another nation in the South.

What did COP archive