At the final round of talks in Brasília before COP30, officials and civil society groups told Climate Home News they were disappointed by a lack of detail and limited opportunities to discuss a keenly awaited roadmap for how to raise $1.3 trillion of climate finance a year by 2035.
A scheduled update on the “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T”, an initiative launched as part of the new climate finance goal (NCQG) agreed at COP29, had generated high expectations ahead of this week’s pre-COP meeting in Brazil.
The roadmap builds on a core commitment for donor governments to raise $300 million annually for developing countries by 2035, as part of a wider $1.3 trillion coming from all sources including the private sector.
Little was understood at COP29 in Baku about what the roadmap would entail, but some clarity emerged at June’s mid-year talks in Bonn. It would be a report prepared jointly by the COP29 and COP30 presidencies on how to scale up financing, including information and recommendations from a range of consultations. A complementary report is also being prepared by finance ministers from nearly 40 countries.
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Prior to this week’s meeting in Brasilia, COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago had anticipated that the roadmap “will be information that will not necessarily be reflected in decisions” at COP30.
He said the pre-COP meeting would discuss how to integrate the roadmap into the formal negotiating agenda at Belem, where it currently has no place. But that conversation has yet to happen.
A one-hour roadmap update session scheduled for late morning on Monday was postponed until the end of the day and cut short because the organisers said ministerial statements from the nearly 70 delegations attending had been extended.
In the end, the session began only at 6:30 pm local time and lasted less than 20 minutes. It was limited to a presentation on the structure of the forthcoming roadmap and included no time for questions or interventions by countries.
“Tentative solutions sets”
COP29 Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev, who presented the update, described it as enabling all actors to come together to scale up finance in the near term, as well as out to 2035, and to identify their potential joint actions.
Rafiyev said the summary report to be submitted to negotiators in Belem will be five to seven pages long, listing “tentative solutions sets”. They include boosting grants, concessional and low-cost sources of capital, creating fiscal space and tackling debt distress, mobilising transformative private finance, and driving system change for equitable capital flows.
On the developing country side, the roadmap may suggest strengthening their capacity and coordination to scale up climate finance and project portfolios.
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There will also be a 50-page background document with more details on the proposed solutions, thematic actions, financial pathways to raise $1.3 trillion, and the way forward. In addition, an online catalogue will help users “identify key ideas, initiatives and instruments” referenced in the 224 submissions made during the roadmap consultations.
Many government delegates and civil society representatives left the pre-COP venue dissatisfied with what had happened. Some even told Climate Home News they thought the session had been pushed to the end of the day, so there wouldn’t be an opportunity for further discussion.
Roadmap not a magic bullet
Rebecca Thissen, global advocacy lead at Climate Action Network International, told Climate Home News she had very low expectations for the roadmap update at the pre-COP, but was glad to see the potential solutions included creating fiscal space and tackling debt distress in cash-strapped countries.
Claudio Angelo, international policy coordinator with Brazil’s Observatório do Clima, said he had been expecting “something a little deeper”. “I was hoping for more substance on where to find the resources and how much they are expecting of it to be public,” he added.
Sandra Guzmán, director general of the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean (GFLAC), warned that if the roadmap doesn’t include elements with scope beyond COP30, “the greatest risk could be having a document that could die in Belém.”.
The Brazilian presidency told Climate Home News that its mandate is to present the report – without elaborating further. Monday’s presentation mentioned that the roadmap “does not prejudge or interpret how Parties [countries] may respond to the NCQG”.
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“They could propose or suggest a way forward or recommendations if they wish, but that’s up to Parties to decide,” Thissen explained. Angelo added that the COP29 decision to produce the roadmap had not been negotiated. “That’s why the mandate is so weak,” he said, adding that it should be incorporated into COP30 in a formal way
Soenke Kreft, deputy head of the risk and adaptation department at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, explained to Climate Home News that the roadmap probably will not form a COP30 agenda item on its own, but could signal aspects to outside actors and processes.
For example, if the COP30 presidency aims to have a cover decision, which they have so far resisted, that could be a good place to welcome it or pass on relevant recommendations.
“Many aspects of the roadmap relate to the NCQG in general and should be reflected in relevant climate finance work. It might also relate to other discussions like the indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation,” Kreft said.
The COP30 presidency believes countries are more focused on other financing issues, such as the provision of resources from the public sector.
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“It’s important not to spend too much time thinking this [roadmap] would solve all the climate finance problems,” said Thissen, adding it was more important to discuss how to implement the core NCQG, and focus on finance quality, provision and accountability.
Angelo, however, noted that both developing and developed countries included the roadmap in their ministerial statements during the pre-COP. “Many countries were saying that the roadmap is very important. They want it to be complete and credible,” he said.
The representative of Barbados, for example, was emphatic at the meeting in Brasilia: “The roadmap is the token of trust. Without a credible roadmap, trust will be broken.”
From Brasilia to Belém, what next?
The COP presidencies of Azerbaijan and Brazil will work on preparing the report in the coming weeks, considering submissions from countries and other groups, as well as two other reports that could serve as inputs.
The report from the “circle of finance ministers” is one of those. An initiative created by Brazil, it will provide a view of the roadmap by finance ministers from 37 countries. On Wednesday, an updated draft of their report will be shared at the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, and the final version will be presented during the first week of November.
The second report will be led by Brazilian economist José Alexandre Scheinkman, who, along with other economists, will contribute an academic perspective on increasing climate finance.
October 27 had been mooted as the date for the publication of the main roadmap, but Monday’s presentation referred only to “the week of October 27”.
Meanwhile, the COP30 presidency has not ruled out a possible delay. As the deadline for its publication is before the COP, which starts with a leaders’ summit on November 6, that leaves a few days’ leeway at the start of November, a presidency source told Climate Home News.
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https://www.climatechangenews.com/2025/10/14/at-pre-cop-in-brazil-climate-finance-roadmap-to-1-3-trillion-remains-hazy/
Stientje van Veldhoven is Minister of Climate and Green Growth for the Netherlands.
When we co-hosted the first-ever conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels (TAFF) this April, the world was reeling from the volatility in oil and gas prices due to the Hormuz blockade. Fossil fuels moved to the centre of the debate as country leaders scrambled to secure supplies for their people.
We saw the very opposite in Santa Marta. Nearly 60 nations came together with 2,600-plus participants from civil society and community organisations, businesses and scientists to discuss concrete solutions on how governments can shift away from fossil fuels. Together, we defined the ‘Santa Marta process’ to serve as an extra engine for the broader process of the UNFCCC.
The Santa Marta process will see expert groups and committed countries develop national roadmaps, chart pathways to overcome financial constraints, and drive economic transformation. We made a multi-year commitment to take this process forward. With Tuvalu and Ireland taking over as co-chairs for 2027, transitioning away from fossil fuels is now moving from words to action.
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Work gets underway
At the opening of the Santa Marta conference, my co-chair Colombia’s then energy minister Irene Veléz Torres and I repeatedly stressed one thing: that the forum was not a space for negotiations, but a forum for countries and other partners to discuss practical steps to move away from fossil fuels.
Since then, we have seen three roadmaps already submitted: by France, Germany and our own. Pacific Island ministers also recently announced their intention to develop a regional roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels. And I called on the European Commission to do the same for the European Union.
On top of this, numerous countries are already working on parts of the transition, such as phasing out coal or ending fossil fuel subsidies. More countries are expected to follow soon.
Workstreams were launched in early August, followed by sign-ups from countries willing to take a larger role and lead on organising different activities. Each workstream has an assigned lead organisation (or madrina). Each has its own working structure.
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Workstream 1 focuses on supporting countries in developing and implementing flexible, country-owned national roadmaps. It operates as an open, collaborative hub that coordinates partner institutions to provide tailored technical, financial and policy support directly aligned with each country’s specific needs and existing frameworks. The consortium, which functions as a hub, currently consists of the NDC Partnership, the Powering Past Coal Alliance, the World Resources Institute and the newly established Science Panel on the Global Energy Transition.
Workstream 2 focuses on mobilising collective coalition power to tackle national and international financial constraints, debt-related barriers and macroeconomic dependencies that hinder the transition away from fossil fuels. Starting with a scoping phase, it will deliver transparent, actionable recommendations and reform solutions to support countries’ structural fiscal needs at global fora. Its madrinas are the International Institute for Sustainable Development and Transforma, a Latin American think-and-do-tank.
Workstream 3 focuses on driving economic transformation by mapping green partnership potential, decarbonising trade balances and building competitive, mutually beneficial clean markets. It aims to help countries, especially producers, diversify their economies, scale domestic value creation, and unlock collective trade opportunities. The madrina is the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development working together with the South Centre.
Incorporating Santa Marta into COP
What was abundantly clear in Santa Marta is that our coalition’s efforts are a strong support to, rather than a replacement for, the COP process. Over the past decade or so, the focus at COPs was on setting goals. Now we must focus on implementation. The COP31 presidencies have previously indicated their willingness to incorporate elements of the Santa Marta process into COP31 outcomes. We look forward to seeing how we can achieve this together.
The Brazilian COP30 Presidency delivered its global roadmap on the transition away from fossil fuels – a voluntary toolkit for countries that want to move ahead – just before the COP started in Antalya on Monday. During the coming two weeks, it’s critical that we see more concrete, actionable roadmaps for the fossil fuel phase-out. These documents can be crucial for a strong second Global Stocktake of national climate plans in two years’ time.
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At COP31, a variety of TAFF-related events will be hosted, focusing on next steps within the Santa Marta workstreams. We welcome any leader and expert from around the world to take part as they work to develop their roadmaps, identify the fossil fuel subsidies they need to phase out, or establish green/clean markets at home.
Only by reducing fossil fuel demand and replacing it with clean electricity to run our economies can we all become more economically resilient and sharply cut the pace of climate change.
The post COP31 outcome needs to prioritise transition away from fossil fuels appeared first on Climate Home News.
COP31 outcome needs to prioritise transition away from fossil fuels
An older teaching about land acknowledgement
As I have come to understand the spirit and intention of land acknowledgement, I often return to fond memories of my grandmother and her words of wisdom. She taught that the health of the places we call home comes first, because the wellbeing of the people depends on it.
In her teaching, land acknowledgement began with the land. Long before it became a paragraph read at the start of a meeting, it was a way of recognizing a homeland: its waters, its species, its seasons, and the spirit that revealed whether the place was well.
Her teaching echoes a practice found across many Indigenous Nations. Haudenosaunee gatherings, for example, have long opened with the Ohén:ton Karihwatéhkwen, the Thanksgiving Address, often translated as “the words that come before all else.” The speaker greets and gives thanks to the people, the earth, the waters, the plants, the animals, the winds, the sun, the moon and the stars. Only after everything that sustains life has been acknowledged does the gathering turn to its own business.
That order changes what an acknowledgement is for. Its purpose was to share the story of a place with neighbours and to draw them into the work of tending it. People entered the story second, as the ones responsible for what had just been named.
Understood this way, an acknowledgement does more than open a meeting. It asks us to reconsider where we stand, and what we owe the ground beneath us.
Nations among nations
In her teaching, people are one nation among many. The salmon are a nation. So are the cedars, the bison, the medicine plants, and the pollinators. Each belongs to a place, carries its own responsibilities, and offers gifts no other nation can give.
This idea of kinship runs through many Indigenous philosophies. The phrase “all my relations,” heard in ceremonies and gatherings across Turtle Island, is a reminder that family extends beyond people to the animals, plants, waters and lands that make life possible. Some Indigenous languages carry the same understanding in their grammar, speaking of many plants, animals and natural forces as living beings rather than objects.
Sovereignty, understood through this relationship, is a kind of standing more than a form of control. Each nation belongs fully to its place and carries its share of that place’s life. No nation thrives alone, and none thrives by taking over the whole.
The land is also the source of instruction. Over generations, people watched how a river valley or a stretch of prairie kept itself well: who arrived when, who fed whom, and how much could be taken before the giving stopped. In my grandmother’s telling, those observations became instructions, and those instructions helped shape law and protocol. They guided when to harvest, where to camp, how to enter a neighbour’s territory, and what was owed in return.
Indigenous legal scholars today often describe this as law that comes from the land itself, learned by watching how living systems sustain one another. A plainer name for it is knowing how to live somewhere.
The host and the guest
One of the clearest teachings in this understanding of the world is the relationship between host and guest. My grandmother invited us to recognize that relationship in the lives of plants and animals.
A host prepares the place before anyone arrives. A beaver family dams a stream, and the pond becomes a home for fish, frogs, birds and plants. A fallen tree becomes a nurse log, feeding the next generation of seedlings as it returns to the soil.
A host offers first. A flowering plant sets out nectar. A berry bush ripens fruit. These provisions come in their own season, not whenever a visitor happens to want them.
A host also makes its presence known. Birdsong, scent and the marks left along a trail tell newcomers that a place is already inhabited. The visitor does not arrive in an empty world.
The guest has responsibilities too. A guest attends to the season and to what the place can offer. A guest does not assume that everything within reach is theirs to take. A guest leaves something that helps sustain the relationship.
A bee takes nectar and carries pollen. Read through this teaching, that exchange offers an image of visiting well: receiving a gift while helping the host continue its life.
Many Indigenous harvesting protocols carry the same ethic into daily practice: ask before taking, take only what is needed, offer thanks, and leave enough for others and for the plant or animal to recover.
None of this suggests that every relationship in nature is peaceful or generous. These are ways of seeing responsibilities that people can learn to carry.
Everyone is both
No being is only a host or only a guest.
A tree makes room for other life while depending on soil, water, sunlight, fungi, and relationships beyond itself. People, too, may welcome others into their homes while remaining dependent on the larger homeland that sustains them.
The distinction between host and guest is therefore about roles, not ranks. Everyone receives. Everyone has something to give.
The question is whether the exchange sustains the place.
A visitor who takes without restraint leaves less for those who come next. A host who neglects the place has less to offer. Both have responsibilities, and neither can fulfil them alone.
This is the heart of reciprocity, a principle found across Indigenous philosophies: relationships stay healthy when gifts move in both directions. The Haudenosaunee teaching of the seventh generation extends that exchange across time, asking that decisions made today leave the place well for those not yet born.
Mutual benefit begins here, with the recognition that different beings carry different gifts and obligations.
What people carry forward
My grandmother’s teaching connects these relationships to the ways people meet their neighbours.
The host prepares a place, offers food and rest, and explains where the visitor has arrived. The guest makes themselves known, explains why they have come, listens to the terms of the visit, and brings something in return. The gift may be material. It may also be labour, knowledge, news, or a commitment to help.
Nations around the Great Lakes carried this ethic into treaty. The Dish with One Spoon, an agreement among the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe and allied Nations, describes shared hunting grounds as a single dish. Everyone eats from it with one spoon, takes only what they need, leaves enough for others, and keeps the dish clean. The Two Row Wampum, between the Haudenosaunee and European newcomers, shows two vessels travelling side by side on the same river, each keeping its own ways and neither steering the other.
In this understanding, acknowledgement is more than naming the people associated with a territory. It is learning enough about a homeland to behave responsibly within it.
Whose home is this? What sustains it? What laws and agreements guide our presence? What can we receive, and what must we return?
These questions make acknowledgement a relationship rather than a recital.
They also make it diplomatic. A guest who recognizes the host’s homeland recognizes that they have entered a place with its own relationships and responsibilities. A host who welcomes the guest makes room for an encounter governed by those relationships.
Neither arrives without standing. Neither arrives without obligations.
Beginning with place
I write from the shores of the Bay of Quinte. Here, the teaching asks me to begin with the water, the shoreline, and the life they sustain. Before I describe myself, I must attend to where I am.
That does not make people or history less important. It places them within the homeland that gives them meaning. The people, their laws, their agreements, and their responsibilities all belong to the place.
In a time of longer fire seasons, troubled waters, and uncertainty about what the next season will bring, this teaching asks something difficult and useful of us: pay attention before you speak.
An acknowledgement cannot tell the story of a place if the speaker has stopped noticing it.
The land came first. Beginning there again means learning to name what sustains us, and accepting that what sustains us also asks something of us.
By Rye Karonhiowanen Barberstock
Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash
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