COP30 outcomes and on the ground insights

COP30 approved a robust ‘Global Mutirão’ package (referring to collective efforts) of decisions designed to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement, strengthen multilateralism and connect climate action to people and nature, including:

• The launch of a Global Implementation Accelerator, prioritising actions with the best potential for scale and speed on climate action, covering methane emissions reductions and carbon removal through nature-based solutions
• Indicating a tripling of adaptation finance to support those most impacted by the effects of climate change
• The creation of the Belém Mechanism for Just Global Transition: a new instrument to support countries in ensuring that the transition to sustainable economies is just and inclusive
• The updating of the Global Climate Action Agenda launched at COP26 to notably include a trillion dollars of funding for the expansion and resilience of power grids

Official UNFCCC side event - Just transition and adaptation: a global business dialogue (Ipieca co-hosts and speaker)

The panel included representatives from the IEA, International Organization of Employers , and academia from Brazil.

Key messages:

• The panel discussed the complexity of integrating energy, adaptation, and just transition, emphasizing the potential of energy transition policies to reduce inequalities
• Climate resilience and affordable energy access are key topics
• The private sector can contribute through innovation, implementation, and local job creation
• The financial sector was highlighted as a multiplier, where public-private partnerships can mobilise capital efficiently
• Panellists stressed risk-based, evidence-driven approaches in national adaptation plans and just transition strategies

Accelerating sustainable fuel, focusing on used cooking oil and its potential to be sustainable aviation fuel (Ipieca speaker)

Key messages:

• Technological innovation is key to accelerating emissions reductions, especially in sectors that are difficult to decarbonise, like heavy industry, aviation, and shipping
• There is no silver bullet for transport. We need a diverse mix of lower-GHG, alternative fuels and e-fuels
• The scale up of alternative fuels has to take environmental and social issues into consideration
• Decarbonising aviation requires coordinated global action, with the International Civil Aviation Organization playing a key role

Energy evolution - how global oil and gas organisations are aligned with the Paris Agreement (Ipieca speaker)

Key messages:

• The industry is reducing emissions from operations through energy efficiency, flare reduction and managing methane emissions, as well as increasingly powering their operations with low-carbon or renewable energy sources
• The industry is helping their consumers reduce their emissions through the increased use of gas, enhanced efficiencies in engine-fuel systems, and developing low-carbon mobility technologies such as electric vehicles, biofuels, liquefied natural gas, ammonia and hydrogen fuel-cells
• Driving sectoral decarbonisation is crucial. Some sectors—like heavy transport, petrochemicals, cement, steel, mining, marine transport, and aviation—are harder to electrify. The industry is collaborating with hard-to-abate sectors and supporting the scale up of key decarbonisation technologies, including CCS and hydrogen
• Ipieca supports the industry to address issues holistically, convening experts from a range of sustainability disciplines, such as biodiversity and just transition, to advance solutions that care for people and planet

The energy sector's role in nature positive (Ipieca speaker)

Key messages:

• Adopting an approach aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework can halt and reverse nature loss by 2030
• The transition of the energy system towards renewables like solar and wind and their related infrastructure brings challenges, e.g. land use, resource extraction, and impacts on communities and biodiversity
• Collaboration and dialogue are key if clean energy development and nature conservation are to reinforce one another

Biodiversity action plans as a way towards sustainable business (Ipieca speaker)

Key messages:

• There is a critical connection between biodiversity conservation and climate change resilience
• A biodiversity action plan is one approach that companies can take to manage biodiversity risks and ecosystems services achieve no net loss or conservation gain
• Highlighting the connection between, climate, nature and people, biodiversity action plans, stakeholder engagement and local community involvement are key features of success plans