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Belém do Pará, Brazil – In response to the closure of negotiations at COP30 in Brazil, Mar Zepeda Salazar, Legislative Director of Climate Justice Alliance, released the following statement:
“COP30 came to a close weakening rather than strengthening climate resolve with no global agreement on phasing out fossil fuels, as communities continue to face flooding, extreme heat, threats to their health, family well-being, and livelihoods. Instead of being explicit about phasing out our reliance on fossil fuels, the “Mutirao” decision makes no reference. Instead of ratifying what we will do now, it merely recognizes the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, delaying real action down the line.
While frontline communities made some key gains, COP30 was largely a win for corporations and an attack on the rest of us. At COP30, lobbyists filled every corner of the conference: one in every 25 attendees was a fossil fuel lobbyist. Local Amazonian communities and Indigenous peoples were violently removed from their own lands. Black communities and Afro-descendants remained sidelined, denied an official caucus despite representing frontline communities, those most impacted and most knowledgeable at crafting long-term solutions that leave no one behind.
While negotiators backtracked on real progress inside, people’s movements from around the world joined together with Amazonian communities for the Peoples Summit and helped to inform, plan, and build for Just Transition solutions that are viable right now. Thanks to them, COP30 closed with key language stating a direct connection between the implementation of Just Transition pathways that ensure “equitable mitigation and adaptation outcomes” and keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees celsius. While the European Union chose to obfuscate progress rather than play an additive role, and the US completely ignored its responsibility, the efforts of those states such as Colombia who are working to craft their own phaseout with like-minded nations is a step in the right direction.
As COP30 ends and frontline communities continue to advance a Just Transition away from fossil fuels and toward just and regenerative economies; we are reminded that: real climate leadership lives in solidarity, community, and collective commitment, where solutions are shaped by those working on the ground every day. We stand with the people of Belém and thank them for their warmth, generosity, and clarity. The path forward is with the people, and we are not backing down.”
Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), a national alliance of nearly 100 frontline communities and organizations fighting for a Just Transition away from fossil fuels, attended COP30 and The Peoples Summit to observe the official negotiations and demand that the U.S., the world’s largest historical polluter, return to the table and take responsibility. The delegation that attended included members from Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, Native Movement, Organización Boricua, and Smile Trust.
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