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As talks kicked off on November 17 in the second week of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the presidency called for a mutirão — a Brazilian tradition of collective mobilisation — urging countries to accelerate work toward sealing the long-awaited Belém Package within days.
In a letter to negotiators on November 17, COP30 President André Aranha Corrêa do Lago appealed for unity, speed and political courage as talks move into a decisive phase.
The presidency signalled that the window for compromise is narrowing. “Now begins the moment when words must turn fully into movement,” Corrêa do Lago said, underscoring that COP30 is no longer in a “preparatory” stage but in full execution mode.
His message marks the clearest signal yet that Brazil aims to secure a comprehensive outcome by mid-week, positioning COP30 as a turning point in restoring trust and implementation capacity within the UN climate process.
Central to the presidency’s strategy is the mutirão, described as a “collective mobilisation of minds, hearts, and hands.” The approach calls for negotiators to work “side by side, in task-force mode,” bridging divides and resolving politically sensitive issues through concentrated, collaborative effort. Brazil’s framing leans heavily on cooperation, solidarity and urgency — a tone intended to unblock negotiations that have stumbled in recent years over finance, equity and implementation gaps.
The presidency has outlined an ambitious timeline: negotiators are expected to complete a “significant part” of their work by November 18 evening, enabling a plenary to gavel the Belém political package by mid-week. If needed, talks will continue until November 21 “so that no one is left behind, and every voice is heard.” All other agenda items are slated for completion by the same date.
Key files identified for the mutirão include the Global Goal on Adaptation, the UAE Just Transition Work Programme, the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme, National Adaptation Plans, and all three items under the Global Stocktake. Finance-heavy issues — Article 9.5, Article 2.1(c), the Standing Committee on Finance, guidance to the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility, the new Loss and Damage Fund, and the Adaptation Fund — are also bundled into the high-priority cluster. The Technology Implementation Programme and matters linked to Article 13 (transparency) round out the list.
Alongside landing negotiated outcomes, Brazil hopes COP30 will help “restore our process itself,” strengthening multilateral trust and demonstrating that climate diplomacy can still deliver. The letter places symbolic weight on the moment: 10 years of the Paris Agreement, a fully operational policy cycle, and heightened global urgency.
The presidency’s message urges countries to approach Belém not only with national interests in mind but with a broader commitment to cooperation and shared responsibility. Each delegation, it says, should ask “not only what it can take home from Belém, but what it can contribute” to strengthen multilateralism and accelerate Paris Agreement implementation.
As COP30 enters its most politically sensitive stretch, the presidency’s closing line encapsulates its push for collective action: “We can change by choice, together.”
According to Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Senior Fellow, CEEW, the mutirao decision draft text, at this stage, presents widely divergent proposals from various negotiating groups and reveals deep differences between developed and developing countries on three key issues — adaptation finance, mandatory commitment on finance provision by the developed world, as well as unilateral trade measures.
On adaptation finance, the core dispute centres on whether adaptation finance should triple between 2025 and 2030-35. Parties are also considering an Annual Belém Dialogue on Tripling Adaptation Finance, supported by an annual progress report.
India and several developing countries back a legally binding action plan when it comes to finance architecture to ensure mandatory finance delivery. Other proposals call for new work programmes on the scale and quality of finance, an annual ministerial roundtable on New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance implementation, and a ‘Belém Facility for Implementation’ to help de-risk climate projects in developing nations, said Chaturvedi.
The text on unilateral trade measures, he said, includes competing ideas: a technical workshop on trade–climate linkages, references to a “supportive and open international economic system” to be discussed at an annual UNSG-led summit, and a proposal for a platform on unilateral trade measures. Developed countries avoid the term “unilateral,” preferring broader economic framing without explicit mention of trade.