Countdown to COP 30: Climate Reports

• By: AWMA
• On: 11/11/2025 13:13:24
• In: COP 30
• Comments: 0

There is a wealth of reports to review in preparation for COP30: Amazonia, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Belém, Brazil, on November 10-21, 2025. Many of these reports are updated every few years by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For example, the IPCC Climate Change 2023 Summary for Policymakers reports:
 

• Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), have unequivocally caused global warming, with global surface temperature reaching 1.1°C above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020
• Human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. This has led to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people.
• Adaptation planning and implementation have progressed across all sectors and regions, with documented benefits and varying effectiveness. Despite progress, adaptation gaps exist and will continue to grow at current rates of implementation.
• Global GHG emissions in 2030 implied by nationally determined contributions (NDCs) make it likely that warming will exceed 1.5°C during the 21st century and make it harder to limit warming below 2°C. There are gaps between projected emissions from implemented policies and those from NDCs and finance flows fall far short of the levels needed to meet climate goals.

The Global Energy Review 2025 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that total energy-related emissions hit an all-time high of 37.8 Gt CO2, contributing to record atmospheric CO2 concentrations of 422.5 ppm in 2024, around 3 ppm higher than in 2023 and 50% higher than pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels. In 2024, CO2 emissions from fuel combustion grew by around 1% or 357 Mt CO2, while emissions from industrial processes declined by 2.3% or 62 Mt CO2.

The 2000-2024 total CO2 emissions and per capita CO2 emissions trends by region are summarized in the following graphs. In the first graph, China and the United States are the two largest emitting regions; emissions are decreasing in the United States, the European Union and Japan, while increasing in China and India. In the second graph, the United States, China and Japan have the highest per capita emissions; per capita emissions are decreasing in the United States, the European Union and Japan, while increasing in China and India.
In the United States, the National Climate Assessment is updated every few years by various federal agencies. It reviews climate change trends in the U.S. and compares them to global trends. The Fifth National Climate Assessment was coordinated in 2023 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and reported:
 

• Climate is changing, and scientists understand why. Warming over the United States is higher than the global average.
• Extreme events are becoming more frequent and severe. Temperature extremes are changing. Heavey rainfall has increased since the 1950s, mainly in the East. Hurricanes are changing in dangerous ways.
• How much the climate changes will depend on the choices made now. Extreme heat and heavy rainfall will increase. The greater warming, the greater the impacts.

Ram Ramanan and Merlyn Hough, as official A&WMA observers of COP30, 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. Posts from COP30 and previous COPs can be found on the A&WMA blog page: https://www.awma.org/blog_home.asp?Category=12