The United Nations Climate Conference (COP 31) began on November 9 in Antalya, Turkey, and will run until the 20th of this month. Over these two weeks, representatives from nearly 200 countries are gathering to discuss measures for environmental protection and combating the climate crisis. Topics of focus include global warming, fossil fuels, energy transition, and preparing populations for climate change.
Scientists, environmentalists, civil society organizations, and businesspeople participate in the conference, but official negotiations are conducted by representatives of countries who may be heads of state, ministers, diplomats, and others. The goal of these discussions is to achieve international agreements and environmental commitments by the end of COP, including setting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. These decisions are made by consensus among governments.
Each country presents its proposals and topics it deems important for discussion, and some even organize pavilions within the event. This is the case with Brazil, which hosted COP last year and is now presenting the results and continuing the initiatives of COP 30.
President Lula is in Turkey along with ministers, deputies, and representatives of the Brazilian financial market. The main topics that Brazilians will present over the days include fossil fuels, deforestation, and climate financing. These issues will be highlighted in the Brazilian program, which includes presentations and debates in its pavilion, and will also be officially proposed in negotiations with other countries.
Special attention is paid to climate financing—a topic long discussed at COP. Essentially, this term refers to mobilizing financial resources so that countries (primarily developing ones) can meet their climate goals and implement environmental projects.
Brazil's proposal is to achieve a target of attracting no less than $1.3 trillion USD annually in climate financing for developing countries by 2035. This target was defined at COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and has two levels. The main level stipulates at least $300 billion annually until 2035, with developed countries leading this mobilization from both public and private sources. The second, broader level calls on everyone—governments, development banks, and the private sector—to work together to increase the total amount to at least $1.3 trillion per year. At COP 30 in Belém, countries decided to accelerate actions towards this amount. Thus, Brazil proposes confirming this commitment and fully expanding the financing, which has been insufficient in recent years and does not meet the needs of developing countries.
The $1.3 trillion figure refers to the total volume that should be directed annually to developing countries to finance climate measures. This volume can be used, for example, for building clean energy facilities, protecting forests, and creating structures resilient to climate phenomena.
However, when it comes to climate financing, one of the main discussions is who will provide the money and how. It is not as simple as opening a bank account and waiting for countries to deposit over a trillion dollars to transfer to developing nations. Resources can come from various sources and instruments: private investments, where companies and banks invest money in sustainable projects; government donations that do not require repayment; loans (which must be repaid later by developing countries); carbon markets, and other opportunities. Countries disagree on the weight of each source: developing countries demand more public money from wealthy nations, while the latter rely on the private sector. The Brazilian plan proposes a middle ground, combining public and private resources, without relying on a single method of fundraising.
The proposal will be discussed with other countries on November 13 during COP 31's Day of Finance and Trade. Meanwhile, the report of the Presidency of Brazil at COP 30 is already available, detailing the proposal and explaining possible resource sources. The document was published on November 8.
Titled 'Implementing the Baku to Belém Roadmap to $1.3 Trillion,' this 78-page document presents six areas that could become sources of climate financing. According to the report, these areas do not have equal weight: they were chosen as primary funding channels identified during the Baku to Belém Roadmap process, not based on their size. The document explains: 'The six assessment areas correspond to the main channels and instruments identified within the Baku to Belém Roadmap process, not their current or potential magnitude. Therefore, they do not possess comparable scale or maturity and should not be interpreted as six equivalent pillars.'
The idea is that by expanding the resources in these areas, the trillion-dollar sum can be reached. According to the report, without changes, international climate financing will reach only between $458 and $461 billion annually by 2035; with the proposed measures, it could amount to between $1.27 trillion and $1.41 trillion. Another proposal is to track this financial volume using a 'climate finance action compass,' a tool jointly created with the Climate Policy Initiative organization to monitor the scale, speed, coverage, and impact of resources.
