The Road to COP30

The road to Belém.

That is the headline on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) page dedicated to the upcoming 30th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP30). At least it is at time of writing, until some UN minion spots the appallingly bad optics of the headline given this week’s news that swathes of pristine Amazon rainforest are being felled to build a new four-lane highway to COP30 host city Belém.

We are currently living in a mad world, especially difficult for people with a modicum of common sense and the ability to detect and appreciate nuance. The increasingly infuriating climate COP process is a case in point. When looking at the ‘pros’, the best that can be said for the COPs is that they are really the only time and place where the climate crisis is being systematically discussed at international level. Some progress has been made in achieving greater disclosure. That’s it, that’s the pros column. Now for the cons, which have been regularly covered in NordSIP:

• Three decades of discussions, joint statements, and commitments while greenhouse gas emissions relentlessly rise.
• 28 COPs before fossil fuels, the #1 cause of climate change, were included in written texts.
• A gradual takeover by fossil fuel lobbyists over the past four COPs, most recently outnumbering delegates from the most climate-vulnerable countries ten to one.
• Petrostates with poor human rights records chosen as COP hosts, despite glaring conflicts of interest and the manifest repression of environmental protests.
• The process has been criticised for neglecting the rights of indigenous peoples and developing nations.

Add to these the easy accusation that jetting in tens of thousands of delegates and officials to far-flung destinations is not particularly climate friendly, and you might think that the UN overseers would want to do their utmost to restore the credibility of the COP process. The choice of Belém in Brazil appeared to signal an attempt to bring the process closer to nature, perhaps reemphasising to delegates what is at stake. As a reminder of the precious ‘lungs of the planet’, the event will be known as COP30 | Amazonia.

On 10 March 2025 COP30 President Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago declared: “If we reverse deforestation and restore what has been lost, we can activate massive removals of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere while reviving ecosystems. Healthier ecosystems can also provide opportunities for resilience and the bioeconomy, supporting local livelihoods, creating advanced value chains, and fostering innovation in biotechnology.”

Imagine his surprise when he finds out that to ease traffic congestion for the estimated 50,000 delegates, his government has approved the destruction of 300 acres of protected rainforest to build a new highway. The road construction project incorporates wildlife crossings, solar lighting, and cycle lanes presumably designed to dazzle and distract pesky environmentalists. The Laundromat is no planning expert, but Google maps tells me that Belém is a coastal town and the proposed road offers not that much of a short-cut, running roughly parallel to the urbanised zone.

According to a study published last month in Nature Sustainability, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest adjoining Belém is suffering from alarming rates of illegal deforestation. According to the Brazilian scientists behind the study, around 186,000 hectares of mature forest were cleared in the decade from 2010 to 2020. It has also been demonstrated that building roads through forests accelerates deforestation, breaking up protected areas and allowing ease of access to developers and loggers. The needs of local indigenous communities have also been neglected, with no compensation offered for the loss of natural resources. Much of the highway is also walled off, which means that locals cannot benefit from better transport links into Belém.

The idea of cutting down Amazon rain forest to provide more convenient access to a one-off climate conference should seem obviously absurd to readers of this column. What is perhaps more perplexing is the sheer tone-deafness of the choices made by policymakers. The ‘Road to Belém’ headline was not meant to be taken literally! In the current beyond-satire semi-dystopian geopolitical environment, where governments and corporations are falling over themselves to run away from environmental obligations, the other side of the argument has to present a rock-solid front. The COP process desperately needed a shot in the arm. Sadly, Belém’s new Avenida Liberdade is more of a shot in the foot.

The road to Belém.

That is the headline on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) page dedicated to the upcoming 30th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP30). At least it is at time of writing, until some UN minion spots the appallingly bad optics of the headline given this week’s news that swathes of pristine Amazon rainforest are being felled to build a new four-lane highway to COP30 host city Belém.

We are currently living in a mad world, especially difficult for people with a modicum of common sense and the ability to detect and appreciate nuance. The increasingly infuriating climate COP process is a case in point. When looking at the ‘pros’, the best that can be said for the COPs is that they are really the only time and place where the climate crisis is being systematically discussed at international level. Some progress has been made in achieving greater disclosure. That’s it, that’s the pros column. Now for the cons, which have been regularly covered in NordSIP:

• Three decades of discussions, joint statements, and commitments while greenhouse gas emissions relentlessly rise.
• 28 COPs before fossil fuels, the #1 cause of climate change, were included in written texts.
• A gradual takeover by fossil fuel lobbyists over the past four COPs, most recently outnumbering delegates from the most climate-vulnerable countries ten to one.
• Petrostates with poor human rights records chosen as COP hosts, despite glaring conflicts of interest and the manifest repression of environmental protests.
• The process has been criticised for neglecting the rights of indigenous peoples and developing nations.

Add to these the easy accusation that jetting in tens of thousands of delegates and officials to far-flung destinations is not particularly climate friendly, and you might think that the UN overseers would want to do their utmost to restore the credibility of the COP process. The choice of Belém in Brazil appeared to signal an attempt to bring the process closer to nature, perhaps reemphasising to delegates what is at stake. As a reminder of the precious ‘lungs of the planet’, the event will be known as COP30 | Amazonia.

On 10 March 2025 COP30 President Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago declared: “If we reverse deforestation and restore what has been lost, we can activate massive removals of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere while reviving ecosystems. Healthier ecosystems can also provide opportunities for resilience and the bioeconomy, supporting local livelihoods, creating advanced value chains, and fostering innovation in biotechnology.”

Imagine his surprise when he finds out that to ease traffic congestion for the estimated 50,000 delegates, his government has approved the destruction of 300 acres of protected rainforest to build a new highway. The road construction project incorporates wildlife crossings, solar lighting, and cycle lanes presumably designed to dazzle and distract pesky environmentalists. The Laundromat is no planning expert, but Google maps tells me that Belém is a coastal town and the proposed road offers not that much of a short-cut, running roughly parallel to the urbanised zone.

According to a study published last month in Nature Sustainability, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest adjoining Belém is suffering from alarming rates of illegal deforestation. According to the Brazilian scientists behind the study, around 186,000 hectares of mature forest were cleared in the decade from 2010 to 2020. It has also been demonstrated that building roads through forests accelerates deforestation, breaking up protected areas and allowing ease of access to developers and loggers. The needs of local indigenous communities have also been neglected, with no compensation offered for the loss of natural resources. Much of the highway is also walled off, which means that locals cannot benefit from better transport links into Belém.

The idea of cutting down Amazon rain forest to provide more convenient access to a one-off climate conference should seem obviously absurd to readers of this column. What is perhaps more perplexing is the sheer tone-deafness of the choices made by policymakers. The ‘Road to Belém’ headline was not meant to be taken literally! In the current beyond-satire semi-dystopian geopolitical environment, where governments and corporations are falling over themselves to run away from environmental obligations, the other side of the argument has to present a rock-solid front. The COP process desperately needed a shot in the arm. Sadly, Belém’s new Avenida Liberdade is more of a shot in the foot.