The upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP 30) in Brazil received attention at the Davos Forum 2025 by highlighting both official and unofficial efforts that pave the way for additional tangible progress in COP negotiations.
The official World Economic Forum website reviewed how governments and organizations are preparing for the most important climate event of the year, which will be held next November.
The World Economic Forum stated that Latin America, which includes some of the world's most important natural ecosystems, from the Andes highlands to the Amazon lowlands, and the city of Belém, the host of COP 30, is considered one of the most climate-vulnerable regions.
Davos explained that the upcoming climate summit in Brazil, which will be held a year after Colombia hosted the Conference of the Parties on biodiversity, is an indicator of the region's commitment to climate action.
Latin America has also had to endure the effects of extreme weather, including flash floods, droughts, heatwaves, and cold snaps.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has described 2023 as "a year of record climate risks in Latin America and the Caribbean."
It is not surprising that the residents of Latin America recognize the direct impacts of climate change on their daily lives and are generally open to regulations aimed at promoting climate-friendly behaviors.
Trump's obstacle
But the road to the COP 30 is not easy at all, as evidenced by the executive order issued by President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on his first day in office.
Nevertheless, signs of cooperation were strong—increasingly so in Latin America—to tackle the climate crisis, with significant contributions from stakeholders in the government, private sector, and civil society.
Here are some experiences and lessons shared by representatives from Latin American countries during Davos 2025, outlining the path to COP 30.
Hard work in all aspects
The 29th Conference of the Parties last year was dubbed the Finance COP, and it concluded with developed countries agreeing to mobilize $300 billion in climate finance to support developing countries— a figure lower than the $1 trillion demanded by developing nations.
On the other hand, the COP 29 was a big deal because of the progress made in negotiations on Article 6. This article will be important for the functioning of carbon markets and giving developing countries another way to get money for climate projects, mainly from private sources.
One of the main objectives of the COP 30 will be to build on this progress and reach an agreement on clearer rules to improve transparency and credibility in carbon trading and to support a global carbon system that encourages increased participation from both the public and private sectors.
However, according to the World Economic Forum, this journey will be arduous and lengthy due to the disparity in current carbon markets around the world, which participants in one of the sessions in Davos described as "resembling the Wild West" and "disturbed."
Maisa Rojas Corradi, Chile's Minister of the Environment, said that Chile has its own local carbon market implemented according to international standards for a decade, hoping that Article 6 will be fully operational.
The environmental legislation in Chile has set a goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by addressing the causes and consequences of climate change.
For example, Corradi mentioned the problem of air pollution, which is intertwined with carbon dioxide emissions and can be addressed by reducing the local use of pollutants, thereby contributing to the reduction of emissions and air pollution and improving public health.
Corradi affirmed, "Our approach to climate change in general has been to use all the methods available to us," and she said, "The transformation we need in the world is so great that we have to use all the tools available to us."
This means leveraging carbon markets but also the incentives and other resources in the government's toolkit to drive the energy transition on a broader scale.
Chile's experience, which includes the transition from using coal at 40% just a few years ago to targeting 70% renewable energy use by 2030, serves as evidence of its ambition in this field.
The role of the private sector
While major diplomatic events such as the United Nations climate conferences tend to highlight the role of governments, the private sector has also emerged as a crucial player in advancing sustainability goals, especially where this intersects with innovation.
Companies like iFood, one of the largest technology platforms in Latin America that offers food delivery services, demonstrate how the integration of technology, sustainability, and social and economic impact can lead to change.
iFood has been carbon neutral since 2021, but it recently shifted from a carbon credit purchasing strategy to directly reducing emissions through innovative emission reduction experiments, from drone deliveries to carbon-neutral motorcycles.
Speaking during a session on Brazil in Davos, Luana Ozemela, Chief Sustainability Officer at iFood, explained that fuel accounts for about 70% of delivery drivers' costs.
Therefore, carbon-neutral motorcycles not only reduce emissions but also have a direct impact on people's profits.
Ozemela said, "It's a double return," and as a result, iFood prevented the emission of 25,000 tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Therefore, the potential benefits of expanding this approach to include 32 million motorcycles in circulation in Brazil, the largest fleet in this hemisphere, are clear.
With a platform that includes around 400,000 delivery workers, iFood also offers financial services to small business owners and leverages 150 different proprietary AI models to create social impact, from expanding access to adult education to enhancing road safety and reducing fraud.
Initiatives led by local communities
Participants in various sessions in Davos emphasized that local communities and broader society play a key role in driving toward achieving climate goals, from raising environmental awareness through education to pressuring governments and providing market incentives for companies to adopt climate-friendly behaviors.
Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Mexico's Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, highlighted the positive experiences from her country, which suffered devastating losses in human lives, ecosystems, and communities after hurricanes Otis and Goon struck its Pacific coast near Acapulco in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
The absence of natural barriers such as mangrove trees and forests left the coast defenseless, leading to widespread destruction.
With 11,000 kilometers of Mexico's coastline at risk, collaborative efforts led by local communities, such as the restoration of the historic area in Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, highlight the crucial role of local communities in shaping sustainable outcomes.
The Xochimilco area, which means "Field of Flowers" in the local Nahuatl language, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 to preserve the remnants of the pre-Hispanic cultural landscape in this region, which still exist today.
But due to reckless groundwater extraction operations, the area was once under severe environmental threat.
However, the Xochimilco region has been revived through a collaborative effort involving local communities, the International Conservation Organization, and the local government, bringing the area back to what it was nearly 400 years ago.
In her speech at the Davos Forum, Bárcena said that community-led positive experiences fill her with "optimism" as political fragmentation in the world hinders further progress on climate change.
She emphasized the importance of intergenerational cooperation in the struggle for environmental justice, saying, "We need more of that across all generations; we need to fight louder. We need to step out of our comfort zones and fight louder for environmental justice."
