- Climate defenders from across Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru – some of the most dangerous countries in the world to defend the environment and climate – will be part of the Amnesty delegation to COP30
- Amnesty International is also urging governments to resist aligning with US President Trump’s denial of the accelerating climate crisis and instead demonstrate true climate leadership
COP30 leaders must keep people, and not profits and power, at the heart of negotiations by committing to protect and address activists’ demands to ramp up the climate action our planet urgently needs – a full, fast, fair and funded fossil-fuel phase-out and just transition to sustainable energy for all, in all sectors, Amnesty International said ahead of the annual UN climate summit in Brazil.
“The global climate crisis is the single biggest threat to our planet and demands a befitting response. The effects of climate change are becoming more pronounced across the whole world. We confront increasingly frequent and severe storms, wildfires, droughts and flooding, as well as sea level rise that will destroy some small island states,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, who will be attending the conference.
“COP30 in Brazil presents an opportunity for collective resistance against those trying to reverse years of commitments and efforts to keep global warming below 1.5°C. The fact that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere soared by a record amount last year should ring alarm bells for world leaders at COP30.
“Amnesty International is urging governments to resist aligning with the Trump administration’s denial of the accelerating climate crisis and instead demonstrate true climate leadership. In the face of President Trump’s rejection of science coupled with the intensified lobbying for fossil fuels, global leaders must redouble their efforts to take urgent climate action – with or without the US. They must push back against attempts to curtail funding for renewable energy projects and resist the bullying efforts by the USA and others to weaken policies and regulations to combat climate change.
“Humanity can win if states commit at COP30 to a full, fast, fair and funded fossil-fuel phase-out and just transition to sustainable energy for all, in all sectors, as recently confirmed by the International Court of Justice’s recent Advisory Opinion. These commitments must go hand-in-hand with a significant injection of climate finance, in the form of grants, not loans, from states that are the worst culprits for greenhouse gas emissions. Crucially, states must take steps to protect climate activists and environmental defenders. This is the only way to secure climate justice and protect the human rights of billions of people.”
Humanity can win if states commit at COP30 to a full, fast, fair and funded fossil-fuel phase-out and just transition to sustainable energy for all, in all sectors.
Agnès Callamard
Brazil will host the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Belém from 10 to 21 November. More than 190 parties to the Paris Agreement will discuss issues such as scaling up climate finance, especially for adaptation, national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; how and when to “transition away” from fossil fuels as agreed at COP28; and how to support measures to reduce climate harms and address unavoidable loss and damage in lower income countries that are bearing the brunt of climate change despite contributing the least to it.
Keeping people at the centre of decision-making at COP30
Amnesty International believes that a rapid, equitable and just transition must put the people most affected by climate change at the heart of all decision-making to achieve climate justice.
This year, Amnesty International will be joining forces with environmental activists who frequently risk their lives to defend human rights. Climate defenders from across Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru – some of the most dangerous regions in the world to defend the environment and climate – will accompany the Amnesty delegation to COP30. The activists include representatives of Avá Guaraní Paranaense, Guerreras por la Amazonía, Movement of Working Children and Adolescents (MANTHOC), National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru (ONAMIAP), Rede Vozes Negras Pelo Clima and Union of People Affected by Texaco.
“Around the world we are seeing alarming evidence of shrinking civic space for climate activism, reflected too in the silencing of defenders within the UNFCC. Too many defenders cannot attend COP30 due to persecution for their defence of human rights. We expect COP30 to deliver a strong message regarding the role of those on the frontline of climate activism and the necessity to protect them,” said Agnès Callamard.
We expect COP 30 to deliver a strong message regarding the role of those on the frontline of climate activism and the necessity to protect them.
Agnès Callamard
Leadership at COP30
Amnesty International is calling on COP30 delegates to:
1. Conclude with a clear plan and timeline to phase out fossil fuels, deliver the wholly inadequate USD 300 billion climate finance target (agreed upon in COP29) and scale up the provision of public grants-based finance. The plan must also ensure that international investments flow into projects that actually help to address climate change and not into risky and unproven technologies like direct air capture or solar or marine geo-engineering that could cause human rights harms and delay the fossil fuel phase out we need.
2. Encourage high-income high-emitting states, especially those historically the most responsible for climate change, to come forward with new and additional contributions to the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage to meet the scale of need. Also, the Fund’s Board must conduct its activities in a transparent, inclusive, and accountable manner while ensuring direct access to funding for affected communities and insulation from undue private sector influence.
Through its COP30 presidency, Brazil should show leadership by strengthening recognition, protection and meaningful participation of climate defenders in multilateral decision-making spaces and by supporting initiatives such as the Leaders network for Environmental Activists and Defenders (LEAD) that will be officially launched at COP30. It should also lead on the launch of a new Belem Action Mechanism for a Global Just Transition (BAM) proposed by several Observer Constituencies. Domestically, it should halt its planned expansion of fossil fuel projects and clarify when and how it will phase out all fossil fuel production and use.
“In stark contrast to what President Trump would have you believe, a fossil fuel-free future is essential to humanity’s survival. There must be no more missed opportunities: parties at COP30 must ensure their human rights obligations guide all climate decisions at Belém and beyond,” said Agnès Callamard.
In stark contrast to what President Trump would have you believe, a fossil fuel-free future is essential to humanity’s survival. There must be no more missed opportunities: parties at COP30 must ensure their human rights obligations guide all climate decisions at Belém and beyond.
Agnès Callamard
