With less than five months to go until COP30 kicks off in the Amazon city of Belém, African and Pacific island nations have told the Brazilian government they are worried that the sky-high cost of lodgings could compromise their participation in the UN climate talks in November.

Speaking at a press conference last week in Bonn, where countries gathered for mid-year talks, Richard Muyungi, chair of the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), said the issue of accommodation in Belém was causing “big concerns” for several delegations, including some countries that are the most vulnerable to climate change impacts.

“I have written a letter to the COP presidency expressing our concerns. We have had discussions with the COP presidency with the assurance that they are going to look at how they can accommodate our concerns,” said the Tanzanian negotiator.

Ilana Seid, chair of the AOSIS group of small island states, said in a statement that their representatives -who are already facing travel challenges – “have not received firm solutions to address the issue of astronomical costs of the already limited accommodation options”.

Brazil’s Belém races to make room for COP30 influx

The chair of the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Evans Njewa of Malawi, told Climate Home that its members had also expressed accessibility concerns and spoken “several times” about the issue with the COP30 presidency in Bonn.

Panamanian negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey said in a social media post in late June that he was worried that COP30 could become “the most inaccessible COP in recent memory”.

Prices on Booking.com for a three-star hotel in Belém can exceed $5,000 per person during the first week of COP30 from November 10 to 16, while rental apartments on Airbnb are being advertised for over $430 a night.

Amazon forest COP

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva chose Belém as the COP30 host city over two years ago, in a push to put the Amazon rainforest at the centre of the UN climate talks. Since then, the city has been scrambling to provide enough new rooms and transport for the more than 50,000 expected participants.

Some delegates are expected to sleep in river cruise boats, converted classrooms, tents and even love hotels, as the city of 1.3 million looks for creative solutions to the massive influx of visitors.

COP organisers have promised at least 24,000 extra beds in Belem, as well as an official accommodation platform that was commissioned in late May. The online platform had yet to be launched as of early July.

One source with knowledge of the situation said it will not be released for at least six more weeks while another source said the reason for the delay is a lack of accommodation to advertise on the platform.

COP30 president André Aranha Corrêa Do Lago has defended Lula’s decision to host the talks in Belém, saying it will showcase the “extraordinary role” of rainforests in the fight against climate change. In a briefing to other governments in Bonn about the logistics of the Belem summit, COP30 special secretary Valter Correia said Brazil has “a long history of making happen what many think is unlikely”.

Brazil’s environment minister suggests roadmap to end fossil fuels at COP30

To ease pressure on the city’s logistics, the Brazilian government decided to bring forward the high level section at the start of the summit, where heads of state deliver speeches and set the tone for negotiations. The World Leaders’ Summit is now scheduled to take place on November 6 and 7, several days before COP30 talks officially kick off on November 10.

“We will continue pushing the Brazilian government to make sure we get appropriate treatment in terms of accommodation and, of course, transport,” AGN chair Muyungi said in Bonn. This is important, he added, because negotiators need to return to their rooms at late hours, as sessions can extend beyond midnight.

Participation concerns

At the mid-year talks in Bonn, the difficulty of finding affordable accommodation in Belém was a major talking point in informal conversations. Campaigners have been raising the issue for months, arguing that the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people could end up being excluded from the UN summit because they cannot pay for a room. And those with higher incomes are struggling too.

“I want to go Belém but how?” one academic messaged Climate Home. “Do you have any idea for the accommodation – it seems very troublesome.”

One climate campaigner said the Christian NGO they work for was using its links with Brazilian churches to access accommodation, while another said their colleague had an aunt who had been able to organise – albeit expensive – accommodation.

One negotiator said their delegation thought it would be best to move the COP out of Belém to a bigger Brazilian city – like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. But that decision would be “deeply political” and the Brazilian government is unlikely to sanction it, they said.

The COP30 presidency had not responded to Climate Home’s request for comment by the time of publication.

The UN Climate Change secretariat pointed to its quarterly update, published during the June talks in Bonn, which referred to preparations for COP30. It noted in this document: “The secretariat has been working closely to help the [COP30] Presidency assess and address a range of challenges, including around accommodation availability and affordability, and transportation.“

Speaking at a press briefing in Bonn, Valter Correia, special secretary for COP30, said the Brazilian government has commissioned new buildings like Vila Lideres, with capacity of around 400 rooms, which will offer prices of around $100-$250 per night. The building will turn into a Pará state government building after COP30.

“I have confidence that we will reach enough (rooms). We have a good quantity already. We will reach enough (rooms) to allow for every country to participate with their whole delegation, without having to make cuts due to challenges posed by prices” Correia said.

Brazilian news outlet Sumaúma reported that government authorities told hotels in Belém to slash prices or they could risk other countries requesting a relocation of the event to a larger city.

Correia said during the press conference in Bonn that the Ministry of Justice has been ordered to assess whether prices are being inflated. If that is found to be the case, hotel owners could face fines and lose operating licenses, he added.

Belém’s electric bus controversy: a cautionary tale for COP30

Several sources suggested that a compromise could be to keep the two-day gathering of world leaders, which will take place on November 6 and 7, in Belém, but to move the COP30 negotiations and accompanying conference – from November 10-21 – to a bigger city. A COP30 Local Leaders Forum will take place in Rio de Janeiro on November 3-5.

The COP venue has changed at the last minute before. In October 2019, because of social unrest, Chile withdrew its offer to host the COP25 climate talks just over a month before they were scheduled to start. Two days later, Spain offered to host them in Madrid and the summit went ahead there relatively smoothly.

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African and Pacific delegations air “big concerns” over COP30 accommodation