COP Coverage

COP30 did not collapse. This may feel like a win in a year when climate diplomacy has seen a major churning. The process survived extreme weather, fire scares, and the COP30 presidency’s strategy to mainly focus on closed-door negotiations. But just surviving is far from enough. Two weeks after the Belém COP

While negotiators in Brazil debated language, the G20 delivered structure. South Africa continued on the groundwork laid by India and Brazil in the past two years to ensure that the Global South — not the G7 — was driving that shift. This is not about the Global North vs South. It’s about leverage: who

What was meant to be a smooth closing act at COP30 in Belém briefly spiralled into chaos. Objections from countries like Colombia, Uruguay and Panama — who argued that their concerns were sidelined by the Brazilian Presidency — forced the suspension of the final plenary for nearly an hour.

COP30 witnessed its most dramatic moment, yet. But it had nothing to do with text negotiations. On Thursday evening, a massive fire broke out in the venue’s ‘Blue Zone’, forcing talks to shut down for more than six hours. No one was injured, but those participating were clearly shaken up.

With Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva flying into Belém on Wednesday, two things changed at the COP30 venue — the mood became more urgent, and the phrase ‘fossil fuel phase out’ was on everyone’s tongues. While the need to ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ was one of the key takeaways from COP28 held in

The COP30 Presidency released the first iteration of the draft text, based on the four outstanding issues that have hogged the spotlight at Belem. Titled ‘Global Mutirão’ — which translates to collective effort in Portuguese — it is a response to Presidency consultations on the issues of trade, finance, transparency and the temperature limiting cause of 1.5°C, as agreed at the Paris Agreement.

The second week of COP30 started off with two much needed ingredients: stormy rainfall which sent temperatures dipping, and India’s announcement it will be announcing its revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

While nearly 40,000 protesters took to the streets of Belém, beating up a furore against the threat of climate change, the mood at the COP30 venue remained rather nonchalant a week into the negotiations. Views from the consultations regarding the four issues, namely trade, finance, 1.5°C and emissions

COP30 is almost at the halfway mark and country stances are getting clearer as negotiations progress. For India, the position is crystal clear: nothing moves unless finance does, according to a source familiar with the delegation’s strategy.

A conflict of interest has dominated India’s forest cover estimates for a long time. While the Union Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) oversees the country’s forests, Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India (FSI) monitors their extent and condition. The FSI, however, is not an independent watchdog. It reports to the MoEFCC.