Pep Canadell
Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project and Senior Research Fellow at the CSIRO Climate Science Centre in Canberra, Australia
Beyond the big headlines about new global agreements, or the lack thereof, COP30's most important role was to serve as a deadline for countries to announce their new emission reduction commitments for 2035, the NDCs. This is where countries demonstrate an increase in their ambition, where action takes place.
Unfortunately, the aggregate increase from all countries disappointed yet again, with announced emissions reductions that are not sufficient to ensure the success of the Paris Agreement in keeping global temperatures below 2 degrees. No global pact was made to abandon fossil fuels, but it is each country's NDCs that must respond individually to the global challenge.
A real breakthrough at COP30 was greater recognition of the importance of climate change adaptation and a commitment by rich countries to triple the transfer of money to developing countries to help them adapt to those climate impacts that are already inevitable.