Halftime at COP30

As we head into the second week of COP30, negotiations are intensifying, with increasing calls for an ambitious outcome that represents a move from negotiations to real, practical climate action.

The Great People's March in Belém. Photo by 10 Billion Solutions / Mariana Castaño Cano

It's going to be another big week for cities. Read our analysis of how C40's COP30 asks are faring, and our highlights of mayors and cities so far.

COP must chart a path to transition away from fossil fuels

C40 Cities has called for COP30 to raise ambition and progress plans to phase out fossil fuels. City leaders joined a coalition of countries and subnational leaders to offer support for a fossil fuel transition roadmap.

Mayors have been clear that the era of fossil fuels must end. C40 cities are already taking bold, concrete action to drive down fossil fuel use and accelerate the clean energy transition. C40's mission to collectively halve fossil fuel use by 2030 in member cities shows that cities are not just planning the transition - they are leading it.

C40 cities are moving five times faster than national governments' current per-capita emissions reduction targets - showing that a fossil-free future is not just possible, but already taking shape on the ground.

Cities are ready to contribute not only as partners in planning the end of fossil fuels, but as essential drivers of delivery.

The Great People's March in Belém. Photo by 10 Billion Solutions / Mariana Castaño Cano

The calls to end fossil fuel use could also be heard loud and clear on the streets of Belém on Saturday. The Great People's March, led by indigenous people and frontline communities, brought thousands of people together to demand climate action and environmental justice - including a "fossil fuel funeral" to underline the vast injustices of continued fossil fuel use.

Climate change is not gender neutral

Caterina Sarfatti, C40 Cities COP30 delegation lead. Photo by 10 Billion Solutions / Mariana Castaño Cano

Veja, Brazil's leading news magazine, has published an article highlighting how women, in all their diversity, are both the most impacted by climate change and the drivers of some of the most transformative climate solutions in cities around the world. It features an interview with C40 Cities' COP30 delegation lead, Caterina Sarfatti, who explained why women mayors and female public leaders have become essential protagonists of a just transition.

It's impossible to overcome the climate crisis without a just transition. And there can be no just transition without full equality of women's rights and their representation in climate policies. Women's vulnerability is not natural. It's not biological - it's social. It stems from existing discrimination, social norms, wage inequality, and limited access to jobs, housing, and services. That's what makes them more vulnerable. - Caterina Sarfatti, C40 Cities

Cities are on the front lines of the climate crisis, and women living in urban areas are often the most affected. At the same time, women mayors are leading innovative and inclusive climate solutions, from expanding safe transport to creating green jobs and redesigning public space with a gender lens. C40 cities such as Freetown, Paris, and Phoenix demonstrate how gender-responsive climate leadership delivers tangible improvements in people's lives.

Cities were the talk of the town in Week 1

Cities and subnational governments were getting a lot of attention in Week 1. COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago opened the conference by highlighting the presence of mayors and local leaders as "absolutely essential" to COP decisions, while COP30 CEO Ana Toni called the conference the "COP of cities" and praised the C40 and GCoM Yearly Offers of Action - ambitious actions mayors will take in 2026, with an intent to come back with further yearly offers every year ahead of each COP.

See the previous Green News Digest for more details about the City Days at COP30.

Information integrity takes centre stage

Opening COP30, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva highlighted the critical role of information integrity in climate action, and called for a 'COP of Truth'.

Wednesday saw the launch of the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change at COP30, with ten countries endorsing so far. This landmark move is welcomed by cities that are on the frontlines of fighting disinformation. C40 Cities stands with CAAD and others in calling for a strong, ambitious, and mandatory decision at COP30 to uphold information integrity on climate change.

Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40 Cities, at the COP30 information integrity press conference

Mark Watts, C40 Cities' Executive Director, said:

C40 supports the importance President Lula has placed on information integrity and tackling disinformation. Cities can play a critical role in making this the 'COP of Truth'. In cities, where the climate crisis is a daily reality, tackling disinformation is not just a political debate - it is a core strategy for protecting the people and places we love.

Mayors are disarming disinformation by involving residents in climate solutions that improve lives, create good jobs, and secure healthier, cleaner streets. They are also working to directly limit the spread of disinformation within our communities by banning false advertising, building disinformation literacy, and holding media providers to account.

The leadership of mayors on the frontlines of the climate crisis has created a powerful foundation to disarm disinformation. We need to work together with national governments, civil society and the private sector to overcome those spreading denial and falsehood.

Read more about how cities are tackling disinformation here.

Water at the core of climate resilience, economic and financial systems

C40 Cities led an event focused on the urgent need to integrate water security into the financial and climate policy agenda. There was a clear consensus: water is no longer just an environmental issue, but a systemic financial and social risk that requires immediate, scalable action across all sectors. Speakers included the Mayor of Adelaide, Deputy Mayor of Rio, government representatives from the UK and Denmark, youth delegates, and C40 Executive Director Mark Watts.

Mayors highlighted city needs as well as solutions:

We moved towards recycled water to not waste potable water, and implemented storm retention programs to gather storm water, purify it, and put it into aquifers or retention basins. - Dr. Jane Lomax-Smith, Lord Mayor of Adelaide

Dr Jane Lomax-Smith, Lord Mayor of Adelaide, speaking at the COP30 event. Photo by OECD

Several speakers addressed the need to view this topic through the lens of the just transition, as well as the need for scaling up investment. The importance of networks and collaboration was reaffirmed as crucial.

We are at the COP to push on the global policy agenda, sharing solutions and work together on shared experiences… C40 is an essential partner to see what we do locally be shared globally so we can increase urban resilience among partners. - Simon Wandel-Petersen - Deputy Director Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Panellists, including Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40 Cities, at the COP30 event. Photo by OECD

Greening construction and cleaning the air

On Friday, C40 Cities, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the global transition to zero-emission construction equipment. The collaboration will scale city, national, and regional efforts to replace diesel-powered machinery with electric alternatives. Cities are a central driver in this transition. They are particularly impacted by poor air quality and noise pollution, and most construction happens in cities.

By electrifying construction equipment, we protect residents' health, reduce noise, and cut climate pollution. Working with CCAC and ICCT, we'll help cities move from pilots to full-scale deployment. - Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40 Cities

Speakers, including Luke Upchurch, C40 Cities, at the COP30 event.

CHAMP: a new phase for multilevel climate action

Panellists including Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40 Cities, at the Urban Ministerial event at COP30. Photo by 10 Billion Solutions / Mariana Castaño Cano

As reported last week, COP30 marked two major milestones for multilevel climate governance: the CHAMP coalition's new co-chairmanship governance model and the launch of the Plan to Accelerate Solutions to help align national ambition with local action and integrate local priorities into Nationally Determined Contributions.

The Fourth Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change highlighted the need to strengthen multilevel governance, institutionalise subnational participation, and expand access to climate finance - check out the outcome summary here. This meeting helped create momentum around CHAMP, drawing significant attention and prompting further discussions among COP30 negotiations.

ANALYSIS: COP30 progress so far

We want to see COP30 agree to clear actions to get the world back on track to close the gap to 1.5°C, with a plan for fossil fuel phase out, to fairly fund a just transition, and to protect people from the climate impacts we can't avoid - none of which can be fully achieved without enhancing collaboration with cities and subnational governments.

POSITIVE MOMENTUM BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN

At the crux of Week 1's negotiations, the Brazilian Presidency is holding consultations that will establish what can land as the main political outcome of this COP. A growing number of countries want COP30 to deliver an action plan to close the ambition gap in current national climate plans (NDCs). Mayors are clear that COP30 must deliver a credible response plan to close this gap, and cities are ready to overdeliver to make this a reality, treating current climate plans as a "floor, not a ceiling" - as called for by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

NDCs themselves must also be strengthened, and C40 Cities signed this week the NDC Partnership's Call to Action - which urges countries and institutions to double down on their commitment to implement ambitious NDCs, strengthen partnerships, and commit to limiting warming to 1.5°C.

Many countries also want a clear message from COP30 that reaffirms the world's commitment to climate multilateralism as the only way to address the climate crisis, while doubling down on the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5ºC. Even in the likely case that the world temporarily overshoots this goal, it must remain our guiding target to help prevent the worst of climate breakdown and keep people safe.

Following President Lula's speech at COP30's opening, there has been a surge in momentum behind calls for COP30 to launch a roadmap to end our dependence on fossil fuels (more on C40's response above). Ending the fossil fuel era is essential to meet our Paris Agreement goals and tackle the injustices of climate breakdown.

However, there is still reluctance or opposition to a fossil fuel roadmap, not only among petrostates, but also among many Global South countries concerned about financing a just transition. This once again spotlights that finance is essential to fuel ambition. There is further conflict over the urgent need for adaptation finance, with many developing countries calling for a new goal to triple adaptation finance by 2035.

Throughout the hallways, media huddles and pavilions in Belém, cities are receiving more recognition than ever for their role in bridging the ambition gap, and accelerating action to keep the places and people we love safe. We now need to translate this momentum into concrete outcomes against our four main asks to empower cities to drive the climate progress we need:

1. Recognise the role of cities and subnationals as full partners in climate action - to bridge the implementation gap, deliver on the Paris Agreement and secure a just transition.

MOMENTUM BUILDING

As above, throughout COP's City Days, the role of cities and subnationals as essential partners in bridging the ambition gap was front and centre. You can read more in our previous Green News Digest. Attention now turns to the formal negotiations, where C40 and city representatives are working hard to ensure enhanced recognition of cities' role makes it into the final package of outcomes.

1. Explore new methods to engage cities and subnationals in the COP process, including through formal spaces, mechanisms or dialogues, to enable, incentivise, and support meaningful partnerships for subnational-national collaboration, to focus on and support urban climate action.

MOMENTUM BUILDING

Continuing the momentum behind multilevel action throughout COP30's City Days, the outcome summary of the Urban Climate Ministerial showed that the national government ministers in attendance strongly recognised the need to strengthen subnational governments' participation in the UNFCCC process.

In the negotiation rooms, interventions from an increasing number of countries - including Morocco, Australia, Kenya, Bolivia, the Environmental Integrity Group (EIG), small island states (AOSIS) and others - have supported mechanisms that allow subnationals to meaningfully contribute to anticipating implementation of our climate commitments.

Alongside key partners, we are continuing to pursue several potential landing zones to translate this support into an outcome that will elevate cities' role in climate action far beyond Belém. The Local Governments And Municipal Authorities constituency (the official voice for cities and regions in the COP process, of which C40 is a part) published a suggested text to share with national government negotiators.

1. Formally acknowledge cities and subnationals as just transition implementers, and include them in the implementation of a new mechanism that helps to drive international collaboration on a just transition.

TURBULENT

A large group of developing country parties and civil society organisations have proposed that COP30 should launch a new mechanism - likely called the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) - to help move from years of just transition negotiations to driving real, global implementation.

This is a key opportunity to move beyond current initiatives that are fragmented and often not fit for purpose, by enhancing coordination, ensuring their alignment with Paris Agreement goals, and driving financial matchmaking. It should ensure global discussions translate into local realities by including cities, subnationals, workers, and civil society representatives from the start.

While some developed countries remain reluctant to launch a new mechanism, there is increasing consensus that new strategies are needed: for example, the EU proposed a just transition action plan that includes some key features of the mechanism proposal, including in the area of knowledge exchange and capacity building, while ensuring that non-national government stakeholders are involved.

1. Ensure that COP30 finance outcomes recognise cities' investment needs, scale up and improve the quality of financing for urban climate action, especially for urban adaptation.

UNCLEAR

As COP began, the COP29 and COP30 Presidencies launched the Baku to Belém Roadmap to mobilize $1.3tn per year for developing countries' climate action by 2035. The roadmap includes some promising signals that can enhance urban climate finance mobilisation through strengthening enabling policies, capacity building and improving direct access for cities/subnationals. (Read more here).

However, it remains unclear what outcomes on finance COP30 will be able to deliver - including how countries decide to respond to the Roadmap. Negotiations on adaptation finance are particularly challenging, as developing countries push for a new goal to triple adaptation finance by 2035, but some developed countries insist that last year's COP29 agreement (to mobilise $300bn/year by 2035 for developing countries) already dealt with adaptation finance. Countries have an opportunity to build on the recent G20 Declaration and Principles on 'Resilience for All' - informed by this year's Urban20 Communiqué endorsed by 37 global cities - which recognise the subnational finance gap for adaptation, and the importance of multilevel governance and finance to support local action on resilience, including heat mitigation and flood management.