Over 180 countries are yet to submit updated targets ahead of COP30
The global director of NDC Partnership, Pablo Vieira, said that more than 180 countries are expected to submit their updated climate targets before COP30 – the United Nations Climate Change Conference – which will take place in the Amazon city of Belém in November.
About 80 percent of the countries are behind schedule in updating their commitments to reduce greenhouse gases.
These targets are known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs. They are instruments established in the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C.
NDC Partnership is a global coalition created in 2016 at COP22 to facilitate cooperation between governments, international organizations, and non-state actors to speed up the response to climate change.
“Even though we currently have maybe 29 NDCs on the table, the expectation, from what we hear from countries, is that by COP30 we will have more than 180. The countries are taking their time, but I think a lot of that is because they are striving for higher quality. They understand they need to do a better job to make the goals realistic, implementable, and investable,” Pablo Vieira stated.
“On the other hand, the successful implementation of NDCs has not yet been achieved in most developing countries on the necessary scale. And the current geopolitical situation will only make things more difficult,” he added.
The director participated in one of the opening events of Rio Climate Action Week (RCAW) in Rio de Janeiro on Monday (Aug. 25).
Until August 29, more than 200 events on climate change are planned, organized by the public and private sectors, as well as different nonprofits.
Scientist and co-chair of the Science Panel for the Amazon, Carlos Nobre, attended the event and reinforced concerns about global warming. Changes are urgently needed to prevent permanent alteration of the biome, he said.
“The Amazon rainforest is very close to the point of no return due to the interaction between deforestation, degradation, fire, and global warming. We have had four very severe droughts recently – 2005, 2010, 2015–2016, and 2023–2024. These droughts reduce water recycling considerably. The result? The dry season is up to five weeks longer in recent decades,” he noted.
“Numerous studies indicate that if we continue with deforestation and if global warming exceeds 2°C, there will be no way to save the Amazon. It will degrade itself by up to 70 percent in 30 to 50 years, becoming a savanna-like system. By 2100 it should have released over 250 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,” he added.
Another notable participant at the opening of RCAW was Taily Terena, a young social scientist and anthropologist who is a member of the National Council of Indigenous Women and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She shared her firsthand experience of living through climate change in the Amazon.
A native of the Terena people of Mato Grosso do Sul state, she highlighted the effect of droughts on the everyday lives of indigenous people.
“Water is running out in the pantanal because of the fires caused by agribusiness. Last year was one of the saddest years I have ever seen. I was born in the city, but I remember bathing in the village’s natural lagoons during the holidays. We used to swim and dive deep. Today, the water doesn’t even reach our ankles. During dry seasons, like now in August, we see fish floating dead because of the heat,” she recounted.
In her view, climate conferences, which increased in number in 2025 in the country due to COP30, are opportunities to generate more engagement and efforts in defense of forests and the environment.
“Having COP 30 here in Brazil this year plays a vital role in showing the world that Brazil is a great negotiator and a great protector of forests. But the implementation of laws will only happen if we Brazilians, and all social movements, demand more action from public authorities and the private sector,” she argued.
