February 17, 2026
Highlights from COP30 – Culture Check-in
We are off to another busy year and continue to look back on global climate conversations. We recognize that the news moves at full speed, given the many local and global changes taking place. In the frenzy, you may have missed happenings at COP30, which took place November 10 to 21, 2025, in Belém, Brazil. In recent years, many have written off the COP (Conference of the Parties), since it has been inundated with fossil fuel lobbyists and inaction from world leadership. However, culture has demanded a seat at the table and is starting to be heard. We’ll share some big wins and some disappointments from the proceedings to catch up on how the convention progressed.
Wins for Culture
Last year, visitors witnessed the first inclusion of culture in the COP Action Agenda, the part of the COP framework that mobilizes voluntary action from civil society, businesses, cities, states, and countries. An open letter was introduced for the creative arts to be meaningfully involved in climate policy, representing an overdue acknowledgement of how cultural work shapes beliefs and behaviors. The letter’s call to action begins “We, the undersigned, call for the United Nations and its member states to meaningfully involve the creative arts in developing climate change policy and action in the following ways,” listing ways that governments can invest in better futures through creative means. This year has also seen the first-ever Culture Day as part of its themed days, signaling that culture is moving from margin to mainstream.
Ahead of COP30 were two major gatherings in other Brazilian cities: the Culture and Climate Summit held in Rio and the Global Artivism conference in Salvador. Julie’s Bicycle introduced We Make Tomorrow (WMT), “a global campaign bringing together artists and artivists, creatives, designers, cultural knowledge and heritage keepers, united in climate action.” According to Julie’s Bicycle, 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.” Culture would be involved as a core part of closing the emissions gap, “enabling a just transition, and safeguarding heritage to sustain thriving communities.”
Indigenous Representation
This year marked the largest-ever participation of Indigenous Peoples in COP history, with over 3,000 Indigenous Peoples' representatives. Therefore, it was branded as the "Indigenous COP," as it aimed to highlight the guardians of biodiversity. However, a disappointingly low number of secured passes, only 360, were provided to access the main negotiating zone, compared to 1,600 delegates linked to the fossil fuel industry. Indigenous groups were unable to vote or attend closed-door meetings. Indigenous delegates were given individual tickets to enter the multilateral spaces, “only to be placed last on the list and told we could speak only if there's time." The irony of hosting a conference in the Amazon that cost hundreds of millions of dollars in a region where many still lack basic amenities is not lost on the public.
However, there is positive movement among Pacific Island nations. In mid-July 2025, The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark ruling that climate harm violates international law. This decision opens the door for “countries like Vanuatu to seek reparations from some of the world’s biggest polluters.” Island nations have had to flee their traditional lands due to landslides and rising seas and have filed a case alongside 130 other countries to discuss legal obligations to reparations. The Pacific advocates who were at COP30 are demanding global leaders to follow the ICJ’s ruling by phasing out fossil fuels and funding climate disaster recovery projects. Many are also calling for Indigenous peoples and traditional ecological knowledge to be included in climate decision-making and are pushing back on efforts to sacrifice Pacific seabeds for lucrative transition mineral mining operations. They argue the next COP should be held in Australia, where they hope to better convey how climate change is impacting their lands and waters.
Notable Commitments for Just Transition
The launch of the Tropical Forest Forever (TFF) fund aims to curb deforestation by rewarding countries that keep their forests intact, with an initial investment of $5.5 billion. The governor of the state of Pará, where Belém is located, committed to tagging all 20 million cattle in the region to track deforestation. South Korea operates the world’s seventh-largest fleet of coal plants. At COP30, it committed to closing all 40 plants by 2040 and build no new unabated plants. Colombia and the Netherlands announced the first International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, to be held in Colombia in April 2026.
Disaster at COP
On Thursday November 20th, the second to last day of COP30, a fire broke out inside the convention hall, prompting an evacuation of the blue zone and pausing delegates’ negotiations. Climate journalist Kathrine Hayhoe reported that the fire was brought under control within minutes and no one was seriously injured. She also quoted climate scientist Michael Mann who described the fire “a disturbingly apt metaphor.” In addition, the conference venue suffered leaks from heavy rainfall and faulty air conditioning, a struggle that will only get worse as the planet continues to warm.
A Disappointing End
The same day of the fire, at least 29 nations supporting a phase-out of fossil fuels at the climate summit lit another flame by sending a letter to the Brazilian COP presidency threatening to block any agreement that did not include such a commitment. The letter demanded that the roadmap be included in the outcome of the talks. Quoted in The Guardian, Irene Vélez Torres, the environment minister of Colombia noted, “Adopting a weak or empty text would signal a failure of climate multilateralism and a failure to future generations, who deserve a livable planet.” The Guardian reports that “for the second year in a row, the United Nations climate conference ended without a consensus declaration that tackling global warming requires transitioning away from fossil fuels.”
Where We Stand
Scientists report that exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperature has become inevitable. News in November of a 2.6°C warming trajectory should prompt immediate action, but it also offers an opportunity to imagine a new reality for society. Despite the many disappointments such as closing off of spaces where Indigenous voices belong, painful negotiations, and the constant threat of systems collapse, evident by the many dumpster fires throughout this COP, there is hope. Artists and activists are mobilizing, speaking their truths and demanding action. Where art and culture can proliferate, it will be a creative force for environmental justice.
To learn about what the Sustainability Committee has going on, check out the previous blog post, sent in December.
--Justine Wuebold, Co-Chair Sustainability Committee
Reference Articles and Webpages:
“Culture at COP,” (2026) UNESCO: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/culture-cop30
“We Make Tomorrow,” (2025): https://www.wemaketomorrow.global/
“A Tale of Two COPs,” (2025) Julie’s Bicycle: https://juliesbicycle.org/news/coe p30-a-tale-of-two-cops/
“Cop30: five reasons the UN climate conference failed to deliver on its ‘people’s summit’ promise,” (2025) The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/cop30-five-reasons-the-un-climate-conference-failed-to-deliver-on-its-peoples-summit-promise-269750
“Despite Record Indigenous Presence at Brazil COP30 Climate Summit Sparks Frustration Over Exclusion,” (2025) Cultural Survival: https://cs.org/news/despite-record-indigenous-presence-brazil-cop30-climate-summit-sparks-frustration-over
“How the world’s highest court bolstered the fight for climate reparations,” (2025) Grist: https://grist.org/global-indigenous-affairs-desk/the-worlds-highest-court-bolstered-the-fight-for-climate-reparations/
“What COP30 got right... and what it didn't,” (2025) Kathrine Hayhoe: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-cop30-got-right-didnt-katharine-hayhoe-iiahc/
“Cop30 draft text omits mention of fossil fuel phase-out roadmap,” (2025) The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/21/cop30-countries-threaten-block-resolution-unless-roadmap-to-fossil-fuel-phase-out
“New climate pledges only slightly lower dangerous global warming projections,” (2025) UN Environment Programme: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/new-climate-pledges-only-slightly-lower-dangerous-global-warming
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