Overview
- EU environment ministers agreed to cut emissions at least 90% by 2040 versus 1990, permitting up to five percentage points via international credits and delaying fuels’ entry into the ETS to 2028, with the plan now heading to the European Parliament.
- Heads of state and government are meeting in Belém for a two‑day pre‑summit ahead of Monday’s COP30 opening, with leaders such as Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer attending as the United States forgoes high‑level participation after exiting the Paris Agreement.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is pressing wealthy nations to meet finance pledges and is pitching a Tropical Forests Forever Facility targeting $125 billion, paying about $4 per hectare preserved and levying $140 per hectare destroyed, with satellite verification.
- Only about one third of countries submitted updated climate plans by the September deadline, and UNEP estimates current policies would lead to roughly 2.8°C of warming by 2100, underscoring a large ambition and implementation gap.
- UN chief António Guterres warned the 1.5°C limit will be exceeded in the early 2030s and urged no new coal, oil or gas approvals and a halt to deforestation by 2030, as wars, economic strains and fossil‑fuel lobbying weigh on prospects for stronger outcomes.