Giving Compass' Take:
- Danielle Nierenberg discusses the urgent, collaborative climate and food systems action needed at the 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, on November 10 in Belém, Brazil.
- What role can you play as a donor or grantmaker in taking urgent climate and food systems action in the spirit of what is being referred to as the "implementation COP"?
- Learn more about key climate justice issues and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on climate justice in your area.
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The next chapter in the history of our planet’s climate will be written next week, as high-level negotiators, policymakers, civil society leaders, business representatives, farmers, chefs, and other climate experts gather for the 30th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP30. The two-week conference begins Monday, November 10, in Belém, Brazil.
Will the story of COP30 be one where global leaders step up and embrace the urgent, bold, collaborative policy actions we desperately need to protect our planet and food and agriculture systems? Or will it be a tale of more incremental promises and empty long-range commitments that won’t come due till it’s too late?
I sound dramatic—but, honestly, the challenges facing our global climate systems are dramatic, and we need dramatic action to set us on a better course. This year is on track to be one of the three warmest years on record. The other two? 2024 and 2023. According to the 2025 Global Tipping Points Report, rising greenhouse gas emissions have already pushed the planet past one “point of no return” and we’re on the brink of heading past several more.
The stakes are high, and we can’t afford to hold out any longer.
“We can’t wait until everything is perfect, we have negotiated every text, and we have every declaration. How long are we going to wait for that? We have to start somewhere,” says Zitouni Ould-Dada, a Senior Advisor at FAIRR.
I’m optimistic about the way COP30 leaders are referring to this year’s conference as the implementation COP. As we’ve chronicled over the years, leaders are finally paying deeper attention to the power of food and agriculture, and this year, one of six pillars in the COP30 Action Agenda is entirely devoted to food and ag systems. Bravo! There’s no question that food and agriculture systems provide our most powerful tools for enacting meaningful, effective transformations in our approach to climate and planetary health.
Read the full article about the climate action needed at COP30 by Danielle Nierenberg at Food Tank.