Countries that had previously called for a formal transition away from fossil fuel use and an end to deforestation agreed at COP30 in Brazil to pursue less stringent voluntary plans outside the UN framework. This outcome underlined the disagreements that characterised the summit, which had been billed as the COP of "truth" and "implementation" on the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement.

Carbon market issues dominated the closing stage

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, the framework for international carbon trading, was formally adopted last year in Baku, while this year in Belém agreement was reached on "minor improvements".

Under Article 6.2, which governs trading between countries, the first technical reviews of the initial reports from Ghana, Guyana, Suriname, Switzerland, Thailand and Vanuatu revealed inconsistencies. The COP30 decision acknowledged these problems, called on countries to resolve them and asked the reviewers to provide more specific explanations, while stressing that the system is still in its early stages.

Article 6.4 became one of the most contentious issues at COP30

The supervisory body, granted autonomy over its own work at COP29, recently adopted a dedicated "reversal" standard, that is, rules to manage the risk that carbon removals may be undone, for example if forests burn or stored carbon returns to the atmosphere. Although the standard was intended to protect market integrity, it caused alarm among non-governmental organisations and representatives of the world's largest forestry companies, who warned that it could exclude land-use projects such as tree planting, reforestation and forest conservation measures. In a joint letter non-governmental organisations and a group of carbon trading advocates argued that this and other standards "could exclude all land-related activities" from the market, such as forests, under Article 6.4. The supervisory body was called upon to submit new guidance to address the problem. The recommendations, which were opposed by some scientists and other NGOs, were taken up and reflected in the initial COP30 draft text. In the end, such detailed guidance was rejected. Many countries saw it as an attempt to "rein in" its work.

The debate showed the "ongoing challenge" of balancing strict rules with a system that can encourage investment and near-term climate action, said Beatriz Granziera (Beatriz Granziera), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) senior policy adviser and one of the signatories of the joint letter.

In the final text, the deadline for transitioning Kyoto-era Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to the Paris regime was extended to June 2026, which could potentially add up to 760 million tonnes of emission credits, although most of them will not be linked to any new emission reductions. COP30 also confirmed that the Clean Development Mechanism will be closed by the end of 2026, with 26.8 million dollars transferred from its trust fund under Article 6.4.