Should COP 30 Focus on Fossil Fuels instead of Forests?
COP30 stands for the 30th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is an annual international summit where countries meet to discuss and agree on actions to address climate change, with this 30th meeting being held in Belém, Brazil, from November 10–21, 2025.
COP30 will focus heavily on forests, with the event hosted in Belém, Brazil, to highlight the critical state of the Amazon rainforest and its role in the global climate. Key initiatives include the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) to provide financial incentives for forest protection and new action plans, such as the Forest & Climate Leaders' Partnership's roadmap, to operationalize forest commitments and bridge the finance gap.
At COP30, if the honest intent is to fight climate change, the agenda should not be set by Tropical Forests Forever Fund and the Forest and Climate Partnerships nonsense about forests and fighting climate change. This nonsense needs to stop.
COP30 will focus heavily on forests, with the event hosted in Belém, Brazil, to highlight the critical state of the Amazon rainforest and its role in the global climate. Key initiatives include the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) to provide financial incentives for forest protection and new action plans, such as the Forest & Climate Leaders' Partnership's roadmap, to operationalize forest commitments and bridge the finance gap.
At COP30, if the honest intent is to fight climate change, the agenda should not be set by Tropical Forests Forever Fund and the Forest and Climate Partnerships nonsense about forests and fighting climate change. This nonsense needs to stop.
The Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) is touted as a “new global mechanism to provide long-term, predictable funding to countries that successfully reduce deforestation, with funds coming from countries like Germany, the UAE, France, Norway, and the UK, according to this UCS blog post.”
The Forest & Climate Leaders' Partnership: Launched a roadmap to end deforestation by 2030 by addressing systemic barriers through finance, policy, and monitoring, as detailed in this article from Sustainability Magazine.
COP30 looks like it will be another money making event for special interest parties that will deliver zero benefits for fighting climate based on what we have seen from the previous COPs.
At COP28, this UNEP report blasted global financing of activities that have a direct negative impact on climate change.
Close to $7 trillion is invested globally each year in activities that have a direct negative impact on nature from both public and private sector sources - equivalent to roughly 7 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - according to the latest State of Finance for Nature report released today at COP28 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners.
At COP29, the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) spotlighted how the climate emergency is deepening economic inequalities between the Poor South and the Rich North.
The problems were highlighted by Climate Network in news coverage of COP29 where developed countries failed people and planet.
Marlene Achoki, Global Climate Policy Lead, CARE International, said:
“Once again, the most vulnerable are left to pay the price of the impacts of climate change, while developed countries shirk their obligations to the world’s poorest. The finance COP has failed to meet developing countries’ climate needs, offering a fraction of the trillions needed and neglecting quality aspects. The decision provides no guarantee of grants or highly concessional funding, but relying heavily on Multilateral Development Bank loans that increase debt burdens. Developed nations prioritise short-term interests, ignoring their role in the climate crisis. This failure to deliver adequate climate finance is a failure of justice: deeply troubling and concerning.”
The position of rich countries that poor developing nations only need pennies to “offset” the fossil fueled impacts on climate change by rich countries is a problem that should be addressed at COP30.
Host country for COP30 Brazil appears to be quite content to be paid pennies as long as COP30 continues to support payments even if there is no delivery.
Brazil introduced a Task Force for Forest Code Implementation which aims to accelerate the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization of Rural Properties to ensure that this COP becomes the conference of climate policy implementation
Forests are a carbon source
The problem as exemplified by Brazil is that the Amazon forests, once touted as the lungs of the world for its capacity to absorb carbon dioxide has been identified as a source, rather than a sink, for climate changing emissions.
A two decade long study by Brazilian and British researchers have confirmed what the United Nations said about climate change.
"Since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas."
The same phenomenon has been noted in other forest rich countries like Australia where tropical rainforest trees switch in world first from carbon sink to emissions source.
The same is happening in Canada which reported that:
Prior to 1990, the best available evidence suggested that Canada's entire managed forest land, including areas impacted by both humans and natural disturbances, was a significant carbon sink, steadily adding carbon to the amount already stored.
However, since 1990, the situation has reversed. Canada’s managed forests have become carbon sources, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere than they are accumulating.
The situation is no less dire in Europe which went From Earth’s green lungs to grey smokestacks emitting carbon.
The same sad news can be heard from Colorado in the US to the Artic where one third of the Artic-boreal region is now a carbon source.
Should COP30 continue to look at forests as a means of fighting climate change?
Or should COP30 look at reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuels first before asking forests to absorb those emissions?
This study published in 2024 found that Natural ‘carbon sinks’ are not enough to achieve net-zero emissions targets.
A new study says countries have been wrongly relying on forests and wetlands to appear closer to achieving emissions targets.
The latest study on climate change and the role of forests found their potential has been drastically overstated – and relying on forests to offset carbon emissions could distract from the urgent need to cut fossil fuel use.
These studies support what has been said all the while.
Trees are not enough to save the climate.
Don’t fall for whatever “feel-good” or “COP30 is fighting climate change” news flashes come out after COP30.
The words of Dr Joëlle Gergis will continue to ring true for COP31, COP32 or COP whenever climate disasters end us all.
"Instead of focusing on economic incentives to encourage the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, climate policies are heavily reliant on feelgood “nature positive” solutions that aim to neutralise carbon emissions by essentially planting trees instead of reducing industrial emissions. While the protection, expansion and rehabilitation of natural carbon sinks like forests and wetlands is an inherently good thing to do, researchers have shown that there is not enough land to meet the global goal of net zero emissions using nature-based solutions alone."
Published November 07 2025 CSPO Watch
The Forest & Climate Leaders' Partnership: Launched a roadmap to end deforestation by 2030 by addressing systemic barriers through finance, policy, and monitoring, as detailed in this article from Sustainability Magazine.
COP30 looks like it will be another money making event for special interest parties that will deliver zero benefits for fighting climate based on what we have seen from the previous COPs.
At COP28, this UNEP report blasted global financing of activities that have a direct negative impact on climate change.
Close to $7 trillion is invested globally each year in activities that have a direct negative impact on nature from both public and private sector sources - equivalent to roughly 7 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - according to the latest State of Finance for Nature report released today at COP28 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners.
At COP29, the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) spotlighted how the climate emergency is deepening economic inequalities between the Poor South and the Rich North.
The problems were highlighted by Climate Network in news coverage of COP29 where developed countries failed people and planet.
Marlene Achoki, Global Climate Policy Lead, CARE International, said:
“Once again, the most vulnerable are left to pay the price of the impacts of climate change, while developed countries shirk their obligations to the world’s poorest. The finance COP has failed to meet developing countries’ climate needs, offering a fraction of the trillions needed and neglecting quality aspects. The decision provides no guarantee of grants or highly concessional funding, but relying heavily on Multilateral Development Bank loans that increase debt burdens. Developed nations prioritise short-term interests, ignoring their role in the climate crisis. This failure to deliver adequate climate finance is a failure of justice: deeply troubling and concerning.”
The position of rich countries that poor developing nations only need pennies to “offset” the fossil fueled impacts on climate change by rich countries is a problem that should be addressed at COP30.
Host country for COP30 Brazil appears to be quite content to be paid pennies as long as COP30 continues to support payments even if there is no delivery.
Brazil introduced a Task Force for Forest Code Implementation which aims to accelerate the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization of Rural Properties to ensure that this COP becomes the conference of climate policy implementation
Forests are a carbon source
The problem as exemplified by Brazil is that the Amazon forests, once touted as the lungs of the world for its capacity to absorb carbon dioxide has been identified as a source, rather than a sink, for climate changing emissions.
A two decade long study by Brazilian and British researchers have confirmed what the United Nations said about climate change.
"Since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas."
The same phenomenon has been noted in other forest rich countries like Australia where tropical rainforest trees switch in world first from carbon sink to emissions source.
The same is happening in Canada which reported that:
Prior to 1990, the best available evidence suggested that Canada's entire managed forest land, including areas impacted by both humans and natural disturbances, was a significant carbon sink, steadily adding carbon to the amount already stored.
However, since 1990, the situation has reversed. Canada’s managed forests have become carbon sources, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere than they are accumulating.
The situation is no less dire in Europe which went From Earth’s green lungs to grey smokestacks emitting carbon.
The same sad news can be heard from Colorado in the US to the Artic where one third of the Artic-boreal region is now a carbon source.
Should COP30 continue to look at forests as a means of fighting climate change?
Or should COP30 look at reducing carbon emissions from fossil fuels first before asking forests to absorb those emissions?
This study published in 2024 found that Natural ‘carbon sinks’ are not enough to achieve net-zero emissions targets.
A new study says countries have been wrongly relying on forests and wetlands to appear closer to achieving emissions targets.
The latest study on climate change and the role of forests found their potential has been drastically overstated – and relying on forests to offset carbon emissions could distract from the urgent need to cut fossil fuel use.
These studies support what has been said all the while.
Trees are not enough to save the climate.
Don’t fall for whatever “feel-good” or “COP30 is fighting climate change” news flashes come out after COP30.
The words of Dr Joëlle Gergis will continue to ring true for COP31, COP32 or COP whenever climate disasters end us all.
"Instead of focusing on economic incentives to encourage the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, climate policies are heavily reliant on feelgood “nature positive” solutions that aim to neutralise carbon emissions by essentially planting trees instead of reducing industrial emissions. While the protection, expansion and rehabilitation of natural carbon sinks like forests and wetlands is an inherently good thing to do, researchers have shown that there is not enough land to meet the global goal of net zero emissions using nature-based solutions alone."
Published November 07 2025 CSPO Watch
Update November 08, 2025
In recognition of the role that indigenous peoples plays in fighting climate change through the protection of indigenous forests, Indonesia is allocating 1.4 million hectares of customary forests to Indigenous communities, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said at the Climate Summit in Belém, Brazil.
“This is part of the President’s concern for the environment and for communities that have long been marginalized,” Antoni said in a statement on Friday.
Antoni made the remarks while accompanying Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change and Energy Hashim Djojohadikusumo. During the event, Hashim, speaking on behalf of President Prabowo, officially announced Indonesia’s commitment to allocate the areas. Jakarta Globe
In recognition of the role that indigenous peoples plays in fighting climate change through the protection of indigenous forests, Indonesia is allocating 1.4 million hectares of customary forests to Indigenous communities, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said at the Climate Summit in Belém, Brazil.
“This is part of the President’s concern for the environment and for communities that have long been marginalized,” Antoni said in a statement on Friday.
Antoni made the remarks while accompanying Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change and Energy Hashim Djojohadikusumo. During the event, Hashim, speaking on behalf of President Prabowo, officially announced Indonesia’s commitment to allocate the areas. Jakarta Globe