World leaders meet in the Amazon with a chance to turn promises into action, but only if they focus on what is at stake.
The world’s biggest climate meeting starts this week in Brazil. For the first time in years, I feel real hope that something big might happen. But I’m also worried that fossil fuel lobbyists will try to sabotage progress like they’ve done before.
I almost titled this article “COP31. It’s All We’ve Got.” But despite its truth, it didn’t exactly feel right. It didn’t really allow for all the positive outcomes that can and will happen. This time, more than ever, we are talking about action.
COP30 is taking place right now in Belém, Brazil, at the edge of the Amazon rainforest. Nearly 200 countries are sending representatives to decide how we’ll fight climate change over the next decade. The negotiations about whether we are going to fight climate change are done. Now it’s how. The timing couldn’t be more urgent.
We’re already living in the era of human-caused climate breakdown. The summer of 2025 brought deadly heat waves, massive floods, and wildfires that destroyed town after town. Hurricane season keeps getting worse. Food prices rise as crops fail from drought or flooding. In my hometown of Vancouver, BC, we now have “smoke season” (once known as summertime).
In a new pattern of so-called once-in-a-lifetime events that are now common and recurring yearly, major insurers are refusing to insure or renew coverage in hurricane- and wildfire-prone areas.
The science is clear. We have five years to cut pollution drastically or face catastrophic changes that will destroy the quality of human life on Earth.
That’s why COP30 matters so much. The decisions made in Brazil will determine if we avoid the worst climate impacts or stumble into a future of constant fire and flood.
But here’s what gives me hope:
Clean energy is finally winning. Solar energy is now cheaper than gas-powered electricity generation in most regions worldwide, with utility-scale solar costing significantly less per unit of electricity than new natural gas power plants. Wind power is cheaper than coal-fired electricity, and electric car sales are booming.
Countries are racing to build renewable energy because it saves money while fighting climate change, and this trend isn’t going to reverse suddenly. It will continue to gain momentum.
China added more clean energy last year than the entire United States has built over the past 50 years. Solar panel efficiency jumped from terrible to amazing in just 15 years. Battery costs dropped so much that storing renewable energy is now affordable.
These breakthroughs prove we have the tools to solve climate change. The technology works, and costs keep falling. What we need now is political will to use these solutions everywhere, fast.
That’s where my worry kicks in. Previous climate summits have been flooded with lobbyists from oil and gas companies. Over 1,800 representatives of the fossil fuel industry attended last year’s climate talks.
In fact, they actually outnumbered delegates from the countries most threatened by rising seas. This is the biggest challenge facing COP. It’s not the US backing out of the agreements, it’s not endless bilateral negotiations, it’s allowing fossil fuel lobbyists to have any say at all.
These lobbyists are there for one reason: to water down climate agreements and slow the switch to clean energy. They create “think tanks” to spread misleading information about renewable energy costs, and they promote false solutions like carbon capture that have not been proven and don’t actually exist at scale, or “cleaner” natural gas to ease the transition.
It’s like letting tobacco companies influence health policy or having weapons manufacturers sit at the table to negotiate peace treaties. Burning fossil fuels caused the climate crisis – the fossil fuel industry shouldn’t get to delay the solutions.
COP30 is the worst yet, with 5,350 reported fossil fuel lobbyists making this one of the largest fossil industry turnouts in COP history. In contrast, the ten most climate-vulnerable countries sent a combined total of around 1,000 delegates. With between 50 and 60,000 attendees total, between 8-10% are fossil fuel lobbyists.
It gets worse: when you add in the large numbers of delegates from fossil fuel countries, roughly one-third of all COP30 participants, potentially 20,000 of the 60,000 total, either directly lobby for fossil fuels or represent countries with long histories of blocking more ambitious climate agreements.
It’s shocking and has to change, but it’s not all bad news. The COP reform movement has specific solutions that could work. All participants would have to disclose their corporate connections publicly. Countries would face real consequences, such as trade sanctions for failing to meet climate targets. Instead of just making empty promises, they would be encouraged to make meaningful progress.
Decision-making would switch from requiring unanimous agreement to majority rule. This would stop a few oil-producing countries from blocking the climate action that most nations and most global citizens support.
These changes are not without previous example. They have worked in other international organizations. The World Health Organization successfully limited tobacco industry interference in health policy. Climate talks could adopt similar rules to keep fossil fuel companies from sabotaging progress.
Despite this almost ridiculous lapse in judgment in allowing the lobbyists in the door, the reality is that they are the only people at COP not working towards resolving these global challenges. The other 40,000 people are there to take action.
The Amazon setting adds symbolic power to these negotiations. The Amazon rainforest stores massive amounts of carbon and generates massive amounts of oxygen, helping stabilize our climate. This time, at COP30, indigenous communities that protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity are finally getting seats at the table.
Brazil is proposing a $125 billion fund to pay countries for protecting their forests. This could stop deforestation while providing income to communities who’ve been protecting nature for generations.
Money is flowing toward climate solutions faster than ever. Due to the Paris Effect, clean energy investments hit $1.8 trillion globally last year, nearly double the amount invested in fossil fuels. Companies see renewable energy as the smart business choice, not just the right environmental choice.
The renewable energy industry now employs more people globally (17 million) than the entire fossil fuel sector (10 million). As of 2025, renewable energy jobs have grown rapidly due to massive global investments in solar, wind, bioenergy, batteries, and adjacent green industries, overtaking fossil fuels in workforce size. This gap is expected to widen further over the next decade as legacy carbon-intensive industries are dismantled.
Regional leaders are stepping up where national governments lag behind. Twenty-six US states cut their climate pollution 24% while growing their economies by 34%. This proves that fighting climate change creates jobs rather than killing them.
Cities worldwide are doing the same, installing solar panels, building bike lanes, and electrifying their bus fleets. These local actions add up to a massive change that will continue regardless of what national politicians decide. It just makes economic sense.
Young people are demanding action with a moral urgency that cuts through political excuses. They’re no longer accepting of promises of gradual change. They know it just means delayed action. They want the rapid transformation that science says is necessary and that technology now makes possible. The best and brightest university graduates are now seeking employment in clean technology, where they see not only the greatest employment potential but also the chance to do something meaningful.
The pieces are falling into place for a pivotal breakthrough moment. Clean energy is cheaper and more reliable than ever. Business leaders want predictable climate policies so they can invest confidently in solutions. Public support for climate action has never been stronger.
A tipping point is coming, and the economies already investing in the clean energy transition are the ones that will hold economic power in the next century.
Sure, the alternative is unthinkable, but I’m hopeful because I can see action almost everywhere I look. Humanity won’t accept a future where climate disasters keep getting worse while we have solutions sitting on the shelf. The technology exists. The money is available. We just need political systems that serve people, not corporations.
COP30 happens in the heart of the Amazon for good reason. The rainforest reminds us what we’re fighting for: a living planet that supports human civilization. It also shows what’s possible when we work with nature instead of against it.
The next two weeks could change everything. If negotiators finally ignore fossil fuel lobbyists and focus on scaling solutions, we could look back on COP30 as the moment climate action finally matched climate urgency.
If not this one, then COP31. It’s all we’ve got.
