Welcome to #COP30 – watch the opening ceremony here. In our Green Queen COP30 Digest, our editorial team curates the must-reads, the must-bookmarks and the must-knows from around the web to help you ‘skim the overwhelm’.
Headlines You Need To Know
The COP-related news you cannot miss.
MORE THAN 300 BIG AG LOBBYISTS AT COP30: Fossil fuel industry representatives have already flooded COP30, but now, a Desmog investigation has found that 302 industrial agriculture lobbyists representing the world’s largest food and farming companies have been given access to the climate talks. That’s a 14% rise from last year, with one in four travelling to the summit on a country badge.
$142M+ COMMITTED FOR RESEARCH ON CLIMATE-RESILIENT FARMING: The UK, Denmark, Belgium and Canada have collectively pledged over $142M to the CGIAR to advance research and innovation on climate-resilient agriculture and support adaptation finance for rural farmers on the frontlines of the crisis.
CLIMATE GROUPS UNVEIL ‘DIETS TOOLKIT’ FOR GOVERNMENTS: The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), ProVeg International, and Climate Focus have released a Diets Toolkit to help governments transition to a healthy and sustainable food system. The headline measures? Introduce meat-free meals in schools and hospitals, shift subsidies towards plant-based farming, and adapt national dietary guidelines to encourage these choices.
COP30 PRESIDENCY PROMOTES CLEAN COOKING IN SCHOOLS: The presidency of the COP30 summit has launched the Platform for Clean Cooking in Schools to accelerate the transition to green energy sources in schools.
ANTI-HUNGER DRIVE SEEKS TO MOBILISE FUNDS FOR CHILDREN: The Fome de Tudo Institute has partnered with the UN World Food Programme to kick off the Hunger Doesn’t Go on Vacation campaign, aiming to raise funds to ensure children get healthy meals during school lunches.
FIRST PLANETARY SCIENCE PAVILION IN MOTION: COP30 has launched the first Planetary Science Pavilion, a space dedicated to integrating science directly into global climate negotiations, as part of Belém’s goal of delivering a “COP of truth”.
Key #COP29 Reports
The food and climate reports you need to know about.
- Livestock to plant-based shift can double benefits: A new report by Brazil’s Agroecology Cooperative Organization has revealed that a transition from livestock farming to plant-based agroforestry could increase Brazilian farmers’ net income by 110% per hectare. In some cases, this could be as high as a 1,525% hike.
- Climate disasters have caused $3.2T in losses: In one of its flagship reports, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has revealed that climate disasters have led to losses of over $3.26T between 1991 and 2023. It provides a roadmap forward, emphasising the need to put farmers the heart of the action.
- Agrifood underfunded by developing country climate plans: Most national plans by developing countries recognise the need to adapt agrifood systems to climate change, but struggle to address key risks and protect vulnerable groups due to severe funding gaps, shows new analysis by the FAO and the UN Development Programme.
- Methane emissions ascend, but NDCs show potential: The UN Environmental Programme has released its first official status report on methane, finding that global emissions of the gas are still rising, and much more effort is needed to meet the Global Methane Pledge of slashing emissions by 30% by 2030. But if countries fully implement their national plans, they could effect an 8% reduction by that year.
Awesome Resources From Media Friends
A curation of our favourite reads from COP29 – excellent guides, explainers and op-eds from around the web.
- Brazil continues to lag: Brazil is stuck between its reputation as the “breadbasket of the world” and the “guardian of the Amazon”. Between that, it feels like it’s unable to solve its environmental dilemma, write two experts from the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro.
- Walk the talk: Are COP summits just meetings, or are they truly impactful? It’s time to ask the difficult questions and “move beyond mere promises”, argues Strathmore University Business School’s Morris Makabe.
- What’s up with Bam?: If ‘Bam’ isn’t in your climate vocabulary, you aren’t alone. The Belém Action Mechanism is a top priority for climate justice activists at COP30. The Guardian explains why.
- The good, the bad, the ugly: With COP30 already halfway to the finish line, the Journal’s Karol Balfe analyses what has worked, what hasn’t, and what has really sucked.
- The case of 100,000 trees: Rumours abound that Brazil cut 100,000 trees from the Amazon to make a four-way lane for environmentalists to travel, picking up speed after US President Donald Trump posted about it. The project exists, but isn’t completed yet – so the truth is somewhere in the middle, as Euronews shows in its excellent explainer.
Lighter Green Fun
Funny stuff, weird stuff, random stuff related to COP you may enjoy.
- An inaction award: Every day of the conference, Climate Action Network International is bestowing a Fossil of the Day award to countries that are “the best at being the worst and doing the most to do the least” – so far, the UK, Japan, the US, Indonesia, and New Zealand have all won the unwanted prize.
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