COP30 Recap: youth perspective on progress and failures
We left COP30 disappointed after insufficient action on fossil fuels and sidelining of Indigenous voices. We found glimmers of hope we must build on, but that light at the end of the tunnel is very, very far away...
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COP30's outcome was painfully familiar
COP30 in Belém was supposed to be a turning point. Held on the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, it carried the promise of renewed ambition and a renewed commitment to global climate justice. Instead, the summit delivered an outcome that feels painfully familiar: texts that recognise the urgency of the crisis, yet fall short of the action needed to confront it.
For the European Youth Forum, the result is disappointing, but not surprising. We travelled to Belém with determination, joining forces with our member organisations, youth-led coalitions, and civil society partners. Throughout the two weeks, we were everywhere we needed to be: inside negotiation rooms, outside in the civil society spaces, at press briefings, at demonstrations, and in countless bilateral meetings with the European Commission, Members of the European Parliament, and national delegations.
Fossil fuel lobbies vs. Youth
We put every tool we had on the table. We pushed science-based fossil-fuel phase-out, predictable and fair grant-based public finance, a just transition that prioritises workers and youth, the protection of human rights, and urgent support for vulnerable communities. And yet the final outcome still falls far short of the scale of the crisis. Ultimately, several Parties chose to water down the text and weaken ambition, even as more than 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists were present in Belém and contributed to an environment in which every word of the final text became a struggle.
But if the overall result is weak, it is not empty. There are glimmers of hope that came from persistent civil society pressure, and that young people helped shape. One of these is the new Belém Action Mechanism: a global framework for a just transition that, for the first time, weaves together human rights, labour rights, gender equality, Indigenous knowledge, and intergenerational justice. This is not nothing. It is the kind of architecture that youth movements have called for for years, and it can become meaningful if governments now give it the resources and political weight it deserves.
Failure to confront the crisis's root
Another promising moment came outside the official negotiations. The First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels aims to unite governments, communities, experts, and industry to advance fair and practical pathways for phasing out fossil fuels, building on the momentum of the Belém Declaration endorsed by 24 countries. A clear message that many governments are ready to move even when the UNFCCC process is not. While the declaration has no legal force, it signals momentum that we must build on.
But these fragments of progress cannot distract from the failures. The final COP30 decision does not include a time-bound, science-based plan to phase out fossil fuels. Without confronting the root of the climate crisis, no amount of clever mechanisms or symbolic language will deliver justice. Climate finance, too, remains muddled and inadequate. The pledge to triple adaptation finance by 2035 is more political signal than obligation; with no baseline and no binding commitments, it risks becoming another broken promise. Meanwhile, the reliance on private-sector mobilisation and debt-based instruments leaves vulnerable countries once again carrying the burden.
Indigenous leaders were sidelined and we fought back
For Indigenous Peoples, whose lands, lives, and knowledge are central to climate solutions, COP30 was especially bitter. Despite the Amazonian setting, many Indigenous leaders reported limited access to negotiation rooms, restricted participation, and an atmosphere of heavy security that undermined trust. A COP that should have centred their leadership instead sidelined it.
And yet, throughout all of this, youth voices cut through the noise. In our side events on youth-washing, on international climate law and the right to a healthy environment, and on deep systemic transformation, we challenged institutions that reference young people without giving them power. We insisted on accountability, not symbolism. And we found ourselves echoed by countless others - movements, communities, parliamentarians, and local leaders - who share a vision for a more just and equitable world.
This is why, even in disappointment, we do not leave Belém discouraged. We know that our presence mattered. Without youth and civil society pressure, the final outcome would have been weaker still. That is not speculation, it is the reality of every negotiation where power balances favour those who profit from delay.
Demanding a binding fossil fuel roadmap and fair finance
The work now is to look ahead. COP31 must finally deliver the commitments that COP30 avoided: a real, binding roadmap to phase out fossil fuels; substantial, predictable, public grant-based climate finance; fair taxation and solidarity-based levies; and meaningful participation for young people and frontline communities. The EU and governments in rich industrialised countries have a responsibility to lead on all of these. And we continue to hold them accountable.
Our generation grew up to live with the harshest consequences of the climate crisis, but also in the light of global movements that refuse to accept inaction. We will not stop until the promises made in Paris, and the promises made to us, become reality.
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