Brazil Hosts COP30 Summit: Business Leaders Champion Clean Energy Transition

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Brazil is hosting three weeks of events linked to the COP30 climate summit, hoping to showcase a world still determined to tackle global warming.

That may be tough in a year marked by economic upheaval and cancelled United States commitments.

Business leaders meeting in Sao Paulo are pushing for stronger policies for financing the energy transition, with an open letter on Monday asking governments “urgently” for incentives to adopt renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.

“It’s a recognition from the business groups of the importance of multilateralism and the importance of raising ambition,” said CEO Maria Mendiluce of the We Mean Business Coalition, which co-ordinated the letter from 35 groups representing 100,000 companies.

On Monday, Rio de Janeiro will host a summit for local leaders, including mayors and governors. However, the event risks being overshadowed by protests following the city’s recent violent crime crackdown.

Demonstrators in Brasilia displayed a banner in Portuguese reading, “COP30: Climate can’t wait, it’s time to act,” outside a preliminary meeting for COP30 on October 14. The protest highlighted the urgency of addressing climate change.

In Rio, Prince William is set to lead the annual Earthshot Prize ceremony, celebrating significant environmental achievements over the past year.

However, countries and companies may be hard-pressed to project the same optimism that has marked climate diplomacy in recent years.

Today, global co-operation is stagnating amid geopolitical tensions and multiple wars.

An erratic series of US tariffs has upended economic stability worldwide, while US reversals on clean energy policy and climate science have rattled investors.

Despite the decreasing cost of renewable energy, which has now fallen below that of fossil fuels, many nations are still trying to balance this with other priorities, such as ensuring food security and advancing artificial intelligence.

Business leaders still hope to press clean energy policies as a priority.

“It makes strong business sense and ensures energy security and competitiveness,” said Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera, chairman of the Spanish Green Growth Group.

Brazil’s turn as this year’s host marks 33 years since the Rio Earth Summit, where countries first signed the United Nations treaty committing to tackling climate change.

The summit has since developed into a major multilateral forum, bringing rich and poor countries together with scientists and civil society to address the climate threat.

But it has so far failed to halt the rise in carbon emissions, though the pace has slowed. About 40 per cent of industrial-era emissions in the atmosphere have been released since the treaty was signed.

In attending the annual summit, leaders typically aim to confirm their country’s commitment and to hold one another accountable.

But COP30 is likely to see the lowest attendance by world leaders since 2019, when about 50 heads of state went to Madrid for COP25.