UN Climate Talks Kick Off in Belém with Urgent Need for Greater Ambition from World Leaders

BELÉM, Brazil (November 9, 2025)-The U.N. annual climate change talks commence tomorrow in Belém, Brazil, where world leaders will be judged by whether they can agree to implement robust climate action that heeds the latest science and advances crucial issues of climate justice.

Nations' emission reduction commitments, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), have collectively fallen short of the Paris Agreement goals, according to the U.N.'s latest NDC Synthesis Report. As such, Palau on behalf of the Association of Small Island States has proposed an agenda item to accelerate near-term climate ambition especially as the danger of surpassing the crucial 1.5 degrees Celsius goal is evident. Countries will also need to reach agreement on indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation, an issue made more urgent by dire climate impacts already unfolding and most acutely harming the lowest income nations. Scaling up climate finance to at least $1.3 trillion by 2035 is the focus of the Baku to Belém Roadmap to support lower-income countries transition to clean energy and adapt to climate change.

The Trump administration is unlikely to send an official delegation to COP30, which would be a COP first, while the United States's formal exit from the Paris Agreement will take effect in January 2026. A contingent of U.S. leaders representing states, cities, Tribal nations, businesses and other institutions will be in Belém to demonstrate continued commitment to the goals of the Agreement.

Below is a statement by Dr. Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). She has more than 20 years of experience working on international climate and energy issues, is a regular attendee of the annual U.N. climate talks and is attending COP30.

"World leaders coming to Belém must face up to the undeniable scientific and real-world evidence of their grossly insufficient efforts thus far to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement. At COP30, they must commit to meeting their responsibilities to sharply cut heat-trapping emissions, ensure widespread access to affordable renewable energy, invest in a just phase out of fossil fuels and protect people from the ravages of climate change-fueled disasters. Breaching 1.5 C also has enormous consequences for climate Loss and Damage, as poorer nations on the frontlines of the climate crisis endure a steep toll resulting primarily from richer nations' failure to adequately curtail their heat-trapping emissions.

"It's in every nation's self-interest to limit dangerous climate change and embrace the economic and public health benefits of a clean energy transition-and it's in the global collective interest. The rest of the world must isolate the Trump administration in its deeply harmful actions and anti-science rhetoric and forge ahead to secure an ambitious global consensus. The time for further delay, zero sum thinking and hiding behind other countries' inaction is over as the planet teeters on the brink of overshooting 1.5 C of warming."

Below is a statement by Kate Cell, senior climate campaign manager at UCS and Climate Action Against Disinformation steering committee member and policy working group co-chair.

"This COP's proposed action agenda is the first to include information integrity as a key objective, creating a critical moment to demand that online search engines and platforms be held to the basic requirements of transparency, safety and accountability that regulate other products. The actions of some of the world's richest people-leaders from the Big Tech sector-are contributing to climate denial, deception and delay just as leaders of the fossil fuel industry do. In much of the world, billions of daily online queries and interactions are an opportunity for Big Oil to serve dis-informing content with Big Tech's connivance. As the world faces increasing climate risk, most acutely experienced by the people least responsible for breaching 1.5 C, Big Tech billionaires have proved they are not to be trusted with a livable future for the generations to come. It is past time for systemic solutions to the problem of our polluted information ecosystem."

Below is a statement by Dr. Astrid Caldas, senior climate scientist for community resilience at UCS.

"The biodiversity impacts of climate change have been multiplying at an alarming rate as wildfires, drought, extreme heat and ocean acidification take a toll on the health of forests, oceans and species globally. Meanwhile, deforestation and changes in land use for agriculture and oil extraction have consequences not only for the environment but for Indigenous and traditional communities that have historically lived off and stewarded the land. Loss of species and other natural resources of cultural significance are undermining these communities' ability to live in their traditional ways. Action to prevent further warming is essential to the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems, which in turn helps prevent more future warming. At COP, nations must also commit to well-funded actions to protect forest ecosystems that recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples and directly include their participation in decision-making."

Additional UCS Resources:

• Media advisory listing UCS' COP30 experts available for interviews
• All blog posts related to COP30
• Statement on the U.N. Emissions Gap Report, confirming overshoot of 1.5 degrees Celsius
• Statement on President Trump's second withdrawal from the Paris Agreement