A new mega fund to preserve tropical forests and a roadmap to end deforestation were among the headline outcomes of COP30, which wrapped up on Friday after two weeks of tense negotiations in Belém, Brazil.
The “Tropical Forest Forever Facility” (TFFF) was launched alongside a broader package dubbed the “global mutirão” — a collective effort by the Brazilian presidency to reconcile disputes over finance, trade and the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C temperature goal. The plan also includes voluntary roadmaps to curb fossil fuel use, a pledge to triple adaptation finance, and new mechanisms to track progress on climate resilience.
Despite announcements, COP30 fell short of binding commitments.
Nations that had pressed for a formal transition away from fossil fuels and an end to deforestation settled for looser voluntary roadmaps outside the UN regime. The outcome underscored the divisions that marked the summit, billed as a COP of “truth” and “implementation” on the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement.
Carbon markets dominated the closing hours.
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement — the framework for international carbon trading — had been formally settled last year in Baku, with only “marginal improvements” agreed in Belém.
Under Article 6.2, which governs country‑to‑country trades, the first technical reviews of initial reports — from Ghana, Guyana, Suriname, Switzerland, Thailand and Vanuatu — revealed inconsistencies. COP30’s decision acknowledged these problems, urged countries to resolve them and asked reviewers to provide clearer explanations, while stressing that the system remains in its early stages.
Article 6.4, however, became one of COP30’s most divisive issues.
The supervisory body, granted autonomy at COP29, had recently adopted a standard on “non‑permanence” — rules to manage the risk of carbon removals being reversed, for example if forests burn or stored carbon leaks back into the atmosphere. While intended to safeguard market integrity, the standard sparked alarm among NGOs and representatives from the world’s largest forest companies, who warned it could exclude land‑based projects such as afforestation, reforestation and forest conservation. In a joint letter, a group of NGOs and carbon-trading advocates said this and other standards “could exclude all land-based activities”, such as forests, from the Article 6.4 market.
They called for new guidance to be given to the supervisory body to prevent this from happening. Their recommendations – which were opposed by some scientists and other NGOs – were picked up and reflected in an early draft text at COP30. In the end, however, such detailed guidance to the body was rejected. Many countries saw this as an attempt to “micro-manage” its work.
The debate shows there is an “ongoing challenge” to balance robust rules with a system that can drive investment and near-term climate action, said Beatriz Granziera, senior policy adviser at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), one of the signatories of the joint letter.
The final text extends the deadline for Kyoto‑era Clean Development Mechanism projects to transition into the Paris regime until June 2026 — potentially adding up to 760 million tonnes of credits, though most will not represent new reductions. COP30 also confirmed the CDM will close by the end of 2026, transferring $26.8 million from its trust fund to Article 6.4.
