- Posted on November 19th, 2025
COP30: A tale of two COPs
Reflections from Belém, from JB and the We Make Tomorrow campaign
It’s been just over a week since world leaders, negotiators and activists arrived in Belém, Brazil, for COP30, the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Brazilian presidency has declared this summit the “COP of truth”, signalling a departure from an era of warm words and vague promises of climate action, and calling instead for real and rapid delivery.
The first week has underscored both the urgency and the opportunity of this moment. Amid a backdrop of breached tipping points and a 1.5°C target now beyond realistic reach, conversations have shifted toward raising ambition and adapting to a new reality. As we face the last few days of talks, pressure is building on negotiators to finalise the details of the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), finance for loss and damage, and strengthen the latest round of national climate plans. There’s also talk of drawing up a roadmap to support the transition away from fossil fuels as a potential major outcome of COP30. A decade on from the success of Paris and with signs of stalling progress, there’s clearly a lot riding on this next stage. Failing to turn ambition into tangible pathways, including finance, could throw credibility of the multilateral system into question.
At the same time, the reality of the climate crisis has, quite literally, entered the negotiating rooms, with torrential downpours in the rainforest city leading to flooding in some venues. The talks have also provided a stark reminder of who has a seat at the table and who doesn’t; protests from Indigenous groups last week highlighted an urgent need for more voices to be represented in these spaces, especially as Indigenous communities are often at the frontline of climate change impacts. These protests took place just before the release of analysis showing that 1 in 25 attendees of COP30 represent the fossil fuel industry.
In light of these immense challenges, JB’s mission is to elevate culture, arts and heritage into the COP process and international climate action more broadly. After decades of campaigning from culture activists, COP30 has presented a rare window of opportunity to push this agenda forward.
How has culture shown up at COP30?
At JB, we define “culture” broadly as the arts, creative industries, and heritage (tangible and intangible), including both Indigenous and local knowledge systems. We see culture-based solutions as essential both to shifting how we exist in the world and relate to both human and non-human life, and to developing practical solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Despite its potential, culture has historically been under-resourced and sidelined in climate policy frameworks, seen as a “nice to have” rather than a serious lever for action. However, for those of us working at the intersection of culture and climate, the last few weeks have seen the dial shift massively. The UNESCO Mondiacult conference in September was a major step forward in linking culture and climate action, with the publication of the Barcelona Declaration (read our summary blog here) and a thematic paper on this topic.
In the run-up to COP30, two major events – the Culture and Climate Summit held in Rio and the Global Artivism conference in Salvador – brought together a huge range of actors, from the Brazilian Ministry for Culture, to artists and Indigenous groups in two incredibly inspiring and diverse programmes.
And now in Belém, for the first time in COP history, culture and the arts are beginning to be recognised not just as decoration, but as drivers of major change. Unlike previous COPs, COP30’s programme suggests that the tide might be turning. The presidency’s Action Agenda – the programme designed to mobilise non-party stakeholders such as civil society, business, and NGOs and highlight scalable solutions – includes culture-based action under article 19. This year has also seen the first-ever Culture Day as part of its themed days, signalling that culture is moving from margin to mainstream.
JB has been at COP30 to speak up about culture’s role in climate action with our We Make Tomorrow (WMT) campaign, working with partners worldwide to ensure that culture takes its rightful place in the decisions shaping our planet’s future. A key aim of WMT is to build culture into the Global Stocktake (GST), the five-yearly process that assesses global progress on climate action. This would lay the groundwork for embedding culture into future NDCs, not just as a footnote, but as a core part of closing the emissions gap, enabling a just transition, and safeguarding heritage to sustain thriving communities. We’ll also be watching the discussions around the Global Goal on Adaptation closely to see how they reflect culture. As work progresses on adaptation indicators, culture must be explicitly named and measured, including the loss of cultural heritage, which has huge repercussions for community resilience and connection.
It would be hard to avoid the seeping of culture into the official COP spaces given the sheer abundance of it on the streets and side events in Belém. In a profound and deep contradiction to the shut-off official negotiating spaces, artists and activists have been mobilising across the city to speak truth to power and demand for world leaders to step up. These cultural moments are the spaces where true transformation, connection and progress are made: they must both be protected and given space to propagate.
What’s next?
In the words of the Brazilian presidency, this is the “COP of truth”. For culture actors, that means moving from talk to tangible action and recognition.
After decades of campaigning to embed culture and the arts in climate action, we hope this recognition will include placing them at the heart of the UNFCCC process. News last week of a 2.6°C warming trajectory should prompt immediate action, but it also offers an opportunity to imagine a new reality for society. Culture can help shape that future.
Over the next few days, we’ll continue monitoring key texts and negotiating strands at COP30, calling for culture to be included in decision-making. We’ll also be working with our We Make Tomorrow partners to push for visibility of culture across all aspects of climate action, including taking part in a key event organised by the COP presidency on Thursday in this second week of COP.
Keep an eye on this space for a full summary of JB’s work in Brazil over the last month and reflections on how we carry forward this momentum into 2026.
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Header image: Helena Ramos from Amazonia de Pe, background – Alice from Art of Change 21, Farhana Yamin, Thiago Jesus, photo by Elizabeth Carpio