COP30 CEO says gender and just transition are among the most important topics of the conference

Gender and just transition are among the most important of the more than 140 topics that delegates will need to discuss at COP30 in Belem, Pennsylvania, said Ana Toni, CEO of the conference. earth This Tuesday, the 11th. The optimism comes a day after Toni celebrated the countries’ agreement on the event’s official agenda.

“Of course, all topics are very important, but gender and just transition are among the most important. Today, we ask the facilitators to bring us a ‘cleaner document’ so that we can reach agreement on the just transition agenda,” he said.

The executive director said large groups are producing increasingly strong and integrated proposals. “Already in this second day, we are seeing negotiators discussing very specific topics of negotiation. That gives us great hope that indeed a negotiating text will be finalized,” he added.

At the COP, negotiations will last two weeks and will be fought over every aspect of the global climate agreement. At the Paris Agreement COP 10 years ago, a deadlock over a single word delayed final agreement by more than a day.

Discussions will take place behind closed doors in the Blue Zone, a space restricted to diplomatic delegations, UN agencies, observers and members of the media. However, before a final agreement is reached, delegates must reach agreement on the agenda and give their opinions on what they would like to include.

One of the challenges at COP30 is to include climate finance as a key part of the agenda. The facilitator supports the process, prepares a document summarizing the delegations’ perspectives, and seeks joint discussion and coherent proposals for a final agreement.

COP28 in Dubai had an optimistic outcome, with the need to phase out fossil fuels included in the final document for the first time. Additionally, the first global review of the Paris Agreement was concluded. There were no major achievements at COP29 held in Azerbaijan. The final document was expected to focus more on eliminating the use of fossil fuels, but this never happened.

The disappointed hopes at COP29 were that Baku would resolve the climate finance debate, but the issue will resurface at COP30 with Brazil’s launch of the Tropical Forest Forever Fund (TFFF). Rich countries have pledged to contribute at least US$300 billion a year until 2035, but there is no agreement on how this money will be disbursed. The United Nations criticized this amount, claiming it would only cover 15% of actual needs.

*This report was produced as part of the Climate Change Media Partnership 2025, a journalism fellowship hosted by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.