COP30 from a trade union perspective

Appreciation for the Brazilian people’s hospitality and for the COP30 Presidency’s efforts can’t hide the fact that the end result of COP30 is disappointing. Governments did not deliver a credible answer to bridge the mitigation and finance gaps. The rigid consensus rules of the UNFCCC and the big shifts in geopolitical power made steps forward on the transition away from fossil fuels impossible. The same happened for adaptation finance where the Global North countries failed once again to honour their commitments to the Global South. There is hope however with the decision to develop a Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) for Just Transition. The outreach of the labour movement to the Brazilian Presidency - especially at the PreCOP in Brasilia with the help of CUT - and the strategic collaboration with civil society organisations made the BAM possible. It’s a decision we can work on to make it deliver for the workers. A positive message in this time of wars, authoritarianism, corporate greed and a climate catastrophe unfolding before our eyes.

The global trade union movement came to Belém with hope. The labour movement saw COP30 as a rare opportunity for a positive message in this time of war, conflict, genocide, authoritarianism, corporate greed, combined with a climate catastrophe taking place before our very eyes. And indeed, at COP30 trade unions, social movements and grassroots organisations received a voice. Not perfect, but the People’s Summit and the March were a massive call for justice and an expression of solidarity. That this call for climate justice and just transition has not translated into an ambitious agreement is a true failure. That workers and a just transition for the workforce have been entirely left out of the Mutirão statement, a profound disappointment.

The agreement to develop a Belém Action Mechanism is a big win for workers and their trade unions

For the first time ever, workers and their unions, women and gender groups, youth, communities and Indigenous peoples will get a dedicated place at the UNFCCC to work on our issues and rights. Only a few months ago, this looked like an impossible demand. There was a big risk that Just Transition could offal hostage to a bigger political discussion on so-called Unilateral Trade Measures. The Brazilian Presidency successfully managed to defuse this issue with an agreement to hold dialogues during the intersessional meetings in Bonn in June 2027 and June 2028 with the participation of the World Trade Organization and other actors. 

Trade unions have called for a place in the negotiations for many years because protecting and promoting labour rights, organising workers’ participation and genuine social dialogue to deliver decent work and quality jobs, pensions, health and safety, combined with universal social protection systems, are essential enablers for accelerating climate action. A Just Transition is not a box-ticking exercise. Engaging with unions creates support for climate action within societies. It gives policymakers the mandate to implement the ambitious measures that are needed while guaranteeing social justice. The focus on implementation made it so important to have a decision on the development of a mechanism instead of an action plan or any other arrangement that would only lead to more endless and unproductive talks at the UNFCCC. 

Governments decided that the BAM must be developed by COP31 next year. Setting up a mechanism that contributes to implementation will not be an easy task. The decision contains many elements that will need to be included in the BAM. These include the ILO Just Transition Guidelines, the Accelerator on Jobs and Social protection, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, labour rights, social protection, skills development, decent work and quality jobs, the informal sector, the care economy, the rights of Indigenous peoples, gender equality, energy access, the energy transition, technology transfer, etc... In a major blow for Indigenous peoples, mining for critical minerals was removed from the list, most likely following a request by China.

For the BAM to live up to its promise for workers, the mechanism will need to have: (1) worker and trade union representation in the governance of the mechanism and (2) a central role for the ILO to implement the ILO Guidelines for Just Transition and to guarantee the promotion and protection of fundamental labour rights. The BAM should also provide actual support to governments to implement policies via tools such as a helpdesk, national just transition focal points and the coordination of existing support systems for technology, capacity-building and finance. A major effort by all the actors involved in the process will be required to agree and deliver all this by November 2026 at COP31.

The COP30 presidency was also instrumental in reaching an agreement on the Gender Action Plan. In Baku last year the negotiations failed. The utterly regressive dynamic on gender issues pushed by some autocratic and authoritarian regimes was even worse this year and is very disheartening. Against these pushbacks, governments could nevertheless adopt the Belém gender action plan with a comprehensive list of activities organised around the following priority areas: (A) capacity-building, knowledge management and communication, (B) gender balance, participation and women’s leadership, (C) coherence, (D) gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation and (E) monitoring and reporting. Just Transition is mentioned in the first paragraph and has a specific action in the plan.

The stand-off between fossil fuel countries and those that want to transition came to a head at COP30. Even the decision of the Global Stocktake at COP28 was constantly questioned. Colombia, supported by more than 80 allies, kept pushing till the last moment while Saudi Arabia, supported by its partners, did not move one millimetre. Colombia and the Netherlands will co-organise a conference in April in Santa Marta (Colombia) and the COP30 President will work on a roadmap on transitioning away from fossil fuels, but this will happen outside the UNFCCC process.

Finally, on adaptation, it was disappointing that two years of work on the indicators could not be finalised. The stumbling blocks were indicators in the list that need finance to be implemented. Global South countries lamented the lack of the finance provided. Finally, negotiators decided to accept the request from the Least Developed Countries to ‘triple’ adaptation finance but pushed the objective to 2035 instead of 2030.

After prolonged and painful negotiations, Turkey won the bid to organise COP31 in 2026. Australia will lead the negotiations and the preCOP will be organised in the Pacific. It is concerning to know that COP31 will take place in a country that featured in the top ten of the worst countries for workers in 2025 and in a city (Antalya) where the mayor is in jail as part of a crackdown on the opposition.

Bert De Wel considers himself an ecological economist, working on the nexus between social and environmental issues since more than 30 years. He was environment and energy policy advisor for the Belgian union ACV-CSC for nearly 10 years before he became the climate policy officer at the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in 2018. Bert is the focal point for workers and trade union organisations at UNFCCC and UNEP/UNEA. He is the head of the trade union delegation at the yearly climate COPs since 2018.