COP 30 United Nations Conference on Climate Change Preview

• By: AWMA
• On: 11/07/2025 09:06:45
• In: COP 30
• Comments: 0

The 30th annual United Nations climate change conference will be held November 10-21, 2025, in Belém, the capital city of the state of Pará, in Brazil. This conference, called the Conference of the Parties (COP), is the largest global event for addressing climate change. COP is held annually with the location rotating among the five United Nations regions.

Ram Ramanan and Merlyn Hough have been selected as delegates by the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) to be official observers of COP30 in Belém. As official observers, we will be communicating back to the A&WMA members in real time through a blog that will be available to all members through the Association website.

Belém will provide the world with a unique platform to discuss climate solutions, located in the heart of the Amazon at the gateway to the largest rainforest in the world.


This will be an especially important climate change conference. The September 2025 issue of EM, the A&MWA magazine for environmental managers, was dedicated to International Climate Policy: A Preview of COP30 and Beyond. For example, Mark Lutes expanded on these critical issues in EM:

• Progress by countries to meet their emission-reduction commitments in the 2015 Paris Agreement of COP21: Global greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase and this trend must be reversed to meet the global temperature goals of the Paris Agreement.
• Eliminating deforestation: The fate of the Amazon and the global climate are inseparable.
• Progress on the transition away from fossil fuels: The most applauded (and attacked) paragraph of the COP28 outcome was the call for a “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly, and equitable manner.”
• Adaptation and resilience in the face of worsening climate impacts: The number and cost of climate disasters have dramatically increased in recent decades. For example, NOAA reports that the time between billion-dollar (inflation-adjusted) disasters in the U.S. has shrunk from ~82 days in the 1980s to ~16 days in 2019-2023.
• Climate finance: Finance is a critical issue in the climate negotiations. Current needs are estimated at $1.3 trillion.

Please review the September 2025 EM for a much more comprehensive preview of COP30 including the history of the COPs by A&WMA President Leah Blinn, an overview of COP30 by Dr. Bryan Comer, and detailed articles by Mark Lutes, Supraja Kumar, Serkan Ünalan and Bryan Comer, and Serkan Ünalan and Bryan Comer.

Rotary International will also be well represented at COP30. As a member of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG), Merlyn received a letter this past week from Alberto Palombo, Chair of the Rotary@COP30 Committee.  Alberto indicates that Rotary will partner with the Global Challenges Foundation for a Pavilion in the Blue Zone at COP30 to “provide a space where our stories of hope, innovation, and service can reach world leaders, young change makers, and global organizations.”

Ram and Merlyn are looking forward to COP30 and plan to keep you informed in real time through the blog on the A&WMA website!