At the end of the Belém climate conference, without consensus on fossil fuel phaseout proposals, the Brazilian presidency took on the task of developing a roadmap for transition away from those that are the main greenhouse gas sources in the upcoming months. This will require year-round coordination with governments, regulators and financial institutions. 

“Brazil’s proposal opens up opportunities for participation and advocacy for RCFs, as we can react quickly by mobilising technical capacities and financial support”, adds the executive director of Climate Initiative of Mexico (ICM), Adrián Fernández. Mexico was one of the 80 countries that signed a declaration for the fossil fuel phaseout.

Another roadmap promised is the one for halting and reversing deforestation. The expansion of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility — a mechanism to deliver long-term, results-based payments to tropical forest countries for conservation — is another point that will receive attention in the following months, as well as advancing the financing priorities of the Circle of Finance Ministers. This includes the operationalization of the new Country Platforms Hub.

“The logic of  a ‘continuous COP’ allows RCFs to operate throughout the inter-COP cycle, offering support for new structural projects, and coordination with the Baku–Belém Roadmap”, analyses Netto .

Fernández agrees, as the philanthropic network can work along with climate decision-makers to move forward quickly and flexibly with policy and action formulation. Especially when it comes to finance, RCFs can play a decisive role: “Our foundations can mobilize short-term resources while advancing international management processes for larger-scale grants and loans”.

Overall, COP30 “delivers much-needed political momentum”, states Shakti Energy Foundation. “For developing countries, the priority is to accelerate clean energy transitions, embed climate considerations into economic planning, and expand implementation capacity in the lead-up to COP-31 and COP-32”, completes the RCF from India.

Sub-national governments gain importance

The absence of some countries from the conference, as the United States, or delegations facing government contradictions, as Argentina, states and cities emerged from COP30 as key players on climate issues.

The visibility of “sub-nationals” actors opens space for the Regional Climate Foundations to act, supporting urban adaptation plans, developing methodologies for measuring risk and resilience, and building networks of resilient municipalities, in Maria Netto’s perspective. She also highlights the opportunity to connect subnational entities from different countries for technical cooperation and fundable projects.

“COP30 amplified the role of sub-national climate action, which directly aligns with the coalition’s mandate”, states Shakti, remembering some debates conducted inside the RCF pavilion that showcased best practices from India and other regions on adaptation and mitigation. “We demonstrated how state-level policies on renewable energy, green industries, electric mobility, and nature-based resilience are already delivering measurable impacts”, the organisation says.

The Indonesian RCF sister, ViriyaENB highlights one specific achievement of COP30, that is better measurable on a local perspective: the formal recognition of health co-benefits in climate decisions. The climate conference set 59 voluntary, non-prescriptive indicators to track progress under the Global Goal on Adaptation. Health was among these indicators. “Hopefully, the health co-benefits are going to get more traction in the future, as we progress our efforts in climate change mitigation and improving air quality”, expects the organisation.

RCF pavilion connected COP30 to the real world

After three years appearing as a coalition during climate conferences, the Regional Climate Foundations ended COP30 with a coherent and strong identity. “We have turned the term RCF into a brand”, explains Adrián Fernández. “We are a family of organizations that share an interest in making strategic grants to enable many other organizations to have greater impact on climate policy in their countries”, completes.

Shakti agrees: “COP30 significantly strengthened the Regional Climate Foundations coalition, both in substance and in visibility”, states the organisation, highlighting some pavilion sessions that exposed solutions from Global South to the world.

“The RCF Pavilion is a unique space where the most relevant topics of COP30 were discussed while experiences from the countries and regions where the different RCFs work were exchanged”, adds Fernández.

From Brazil, Maria Netto, executive director of the Climate and Society Institute (iCS), emphasized the central role of connecting negotiation rooms with implementation-focused spaces like the RCF Pavilion. Negotiators, she explained, work with global targets — finance, adaptation, trade, indicators, just transitions — while the pavilion brings forward “the institutions and coalitions that make these goals feasible in real territories.” 

She pointed to the example of Country Platforms: while finance ministers outlined priorities in the plenary, the RCF Pavilion showed how regional philanthropy can provide project preparation, governance, transparency and social participation, “essential elements that do not appear in negotiations but are indispensable for these platforms to work.”

For Netto, COP30 represented “a qualitative leap” for the coalition, consolidating the RCFs as “the philanthropic infrastructure of the Global South for implementation of the Paris Agreement,” and creating stronger alignment around themes such as adaptation and climate justice.

La entrada Continuous COP cycle expands opportunities for climate philanthropy se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

With adaptation as one of the 10 subject priorities on space, many of the events touched on the theme, bringing different perspectives on the challenges for its implementation.

The last one took place on Thursday, 20, when leaders from communities in Bolívia, México and Brazil stated a clear message: no matter what the point is to discuss on adaptation, local voices might be heard. Not only because those communities represent some of the most affected people, but especially because they are already developing solutions. “It is a two-way road”, highlighted the climate policy advisor at PalmaresLab, Alex Soares, from Brazil.

Speaking on behalf of his community in the Caratateua island, in the periphery of Belém — the city that hosted COP30, in the heart of the Amazon — Soares demanded not only more incidence space for the impacted communities. He also asked for elements that could make the debate more accessible to the people in the real world.

“The concept of adaptation adopted at climate conferences refers to ‘the adjustment of human and natural systems’”, explains. “It does not bring a human perspective. It seems to refer to a large machine in which we are seen as pieces”, completed.

Negotiations are conducted entirely in English, but other languages need to be included in the rooms to democratise the debate, he asked. “There is no point in empowering communities if they arrive here and encounter this barrier”, added the moderator of the debate, Daniel Porcel, from Talanoa Institute, which is one of the 45 other organisations, from 13 different countries, on the Adaptation Task Force. 

“Those voices must be heard. They have many contributions to the debate”, argued in another round table Leonildes Nazar, from the Institute of Climate and Society (iCS) — one of the eight regional climate foundations.

Territories are the link from global to local

If in the meeting rooms and the plenary, the debate is made with a language that is inaccessible to all, the examples that came from the communities are didactics. “In the negotiating room, adaptation is a stalled issue, as countries are unable to reach an agreement. But adaptation is alive and well in Latin America and the Caribbean”, Porcel compared.

Many examples came through across the debates. In Bolivia, for example, where the Andes Mountains meet the Amazon Forest, Lorena Terrazas is helping a community to implement adaptation measures to climate change. One example: with the rising temperatures, people decided to change the time range for kids going to school. “They start the classes earlier, so they can return home before the sun is too hot”, explained.

Conversations with women from the villages in the region, who are usually responsible for providing food for the families, led to the rescue of the traditional rice seeds, lost due to the commercial variations. “The traditional seed is resistant to water”, explained, mentioning the increasing risks of floods.

On the Acari ‘favela’, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the action started with residents working on data collection about the communities vulnerabilities. The citizen-guided dataset is published and can guide decision-makers. “Where there is no data, it is impossible to draw effective public policies”, justified one of the coordinators of the study, Mari Galdino. “We decided to provide this information so that this group of people can be prioritised when the budget is allocated”, added, highlighting that there are 16 million people living in ‘favelas’ and suburbs in Brazil: “They live in extreme vulnerability”, concluded.

Working on a rural community in Bahia, a northeast Brazilian state, professor Lourivânia Soares also organised a group of women to develop a community map of risk. Providing evidence of the risks faced by residents of this traditionally dry region, she regretted that the ancient knowledge is often ignored by climate experts. “We needed to use the language of science to validate what communities have known for a long time”, explained. Soares reproduced a testimony of a leader of this community, a griot master — a woman that communicated stories and history orally, as the African tradition — that, a decade ago, said the community was no longer in the semi-arid region, but in the arid region. “Now the study has come out, and the desertification was found”, explained. “But, in that moment, her social voice was not heard; she had no validated knowledge”, regretted.

Local Adaptation Plans as a solution for implementation

Many panelists of the RCF pavilion call that the voices of young people, women and communities are included in the national adaptation plans — the NAPs, in the wording of the global climate conference. But also highlighted the difficulties that the most affected had to get funds and attention. “Municipalities deal with smaller budgets, but the bigger impacts”, told Thais Ferraz, from Institute of Climate and Society. “It is crucial to work with them”, completed.

An idea that emerged is the necessity of developing local or even small community adaptation plans. “In different territories, we know what is affecting us”, suggested Lorena Terrazas, from Bolivia.

In some cases, not only people that live in the place need to be at the centre, but also those who pass through a specific point. This is the case of the city of Mapastepec, in Chiapas state, Mexico, that is in the middle of many different migration routes between Mexico and the United States. Suffering the impacts of climate change, the community decided to include those migrants into their adaptation plan, creating reception and support centres.

But the migration also impacts the own community, as the territory became militarized. “Due to the militarization, if I want to move in my own territory, I need to cross 11 check-points. And in some cases, I’m obliged to sing the national anthem, to prove that I’m from there”, exposed Pepe Villalobos, from Laycs.

Public resources, but also private funds and philanthropies were remembered as important partners on the adaptation — and the necessity of tripling the finance for this specific topic of climate crisis response, as highlighted by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres. 

Without any certainty of results, participants of the climate conference that are focused on adaptation returned to home with new inspiration. “COP30 is coming to an end, but we have many new alliances and a lot of work ahead of us. Despite the crisis, we are excited and happy”, concludes Lorena Terrazas.

La entrada From financing to territories, debates bring different perspectives on adaptation challenges se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

Born in Colombia, Francisco Manzanares, 16 years old, is one of them. But instead of waiting for adults to take action, Manzanares raised his own voice to the climate movement. “We are facing the greatest existential threat before our eyes, which is the climate crisis”, notes. “And to face this complex crisis, we news complex solutions”, completes.

Participating in his fifth Climate Conference edition, Manzanares is one of the best-known voices claiming justice and rights for the children and teenagers at COP30. Belem, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, was stage for more than 160 children make their demands during negotiations — an historical achievement that owes much to Manzanares’ path: at COP27, held in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, he was the only child formally accredited to the Blue Zone.

“The crisis we are living is a systemic crisis, caused by a predatory model of production that destroys life and people”, criticize.

Manzanares began his activism at age nine with the movement called Guardianes por la vida (Guardians for life, in English). In 2023, Unicef nominated the Colombian activist as the first youth advocate for environmental and climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean to promote education and child participation. Vera was just 13 years old at the time.

He spoke at the Regional Climate Foundations Pavillion during COP30, where he emphasized culture as a bridge to connection and argued that the climate crisis is rooted in economic models that disregard life. “In the face of climate denialism and historical denialism, we must try to reach young people through culture”, stated on the occasion.

COP in the Amazon and fossil fuels

Manzanares underscored the relevance of holding COP30 in Latin America for the first time in 11 years, a decade after the Paris Agreement, and in the Amazon region, which is central to global climate debates.

The activist pointed out that Brazil and Colombia currently have more favorable political environments for climate discussions. Still, he noted contradictions between public statements and concrete actions. In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has defended ending fossil fuels at COP30, weeks after authorizing new oil exploration in the Amazon.

“Actions are different from speeches, actually”, Manzanares marked. “But implementation is lacking, and there is a need to discuss how to protect activists. Therefore, regardless of who governs, the climate must be defended”, he added.

He also stressed the need to make climate communication more connected to people’s daily experiences. “Many narratives focus on distant images such as melting polar regions”, he said, “while communities in the Amazon are already facing local impacts — including the recent deaths of pink river dolphins during extreme heat events”.

When is not advocating for a better future, Francisco is a teenager who goes to high school in Spain and France. Activism is a passion for him, but he also has other interests. He likes to go to the sea and explains why: “the Mediterranean Sea is beautiful, I encounter many octopuses”.

La entrada The teenager who paved the way for COP with record attendance by children se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

Studying the relations between indigenous people and nature, the Brazilian archeologist Eduardo Goés Neves discovered that the traditional communities in the Amazon interfered in the forest — but unlike what happens currently, they improved diversity. “The Amazon we know today was shaped over thousands of years by indigenous peoples. They are producers of landscape and, in some cases, are even understood as producers of nature.

His studies rely not only on ancient artifacts, but also on chemical analysis to find in the soil certain characteristics that allow him to interpret the results as consequences of this deliberate interference: “Around 2% or 3% of the Amazon soils were built by indigenous people. They are what we call ‘terra preta’, very fertile”, explains, breaking the old narrative on the supposed poor composition of soils in the region, what would be the reason for absence of human occupation. 

“In Rondonia, there is evidence of regular human presence since nine thousand years, in a continuous form”, adds, highlighting that currently it is safe to affirm that between 8 and 10 million of indigenous lived in the Amazon in ancient times. They had constructed a complex of villages and cities connected through roads that can be seen from the sky through special equipment that goes beyond the forest coverage to map the traces of this ancient network.

This knowledge needs to be considered in the moment of thinking about the current Amazonian occupation. “We need to consider these local arrangements to planify our cities in the Amazon”, argues Ana Claudia Cardoso, professor at the Pará’s federal university (UFPA). 

Forest-cities as a model for adaptation

Cardoso reminds that the evidences reveals a big “forest-city” that had Belém — the Amazonian capital that is receiving COP30 this year — as its central point. “It was dense, but on an Amazonian scale. There were spaces for people, and for nature”, explains. 

The currently urban spaces in the region forgot this, grounding small rivers, constructing under fertile lands. But, recovering ancient technologies and applying them in the present can help cities in adaptation to avoid the worst climate change impacts. “We need to reimagine our territories in a way that doesn’t lead us to collapse. This must be done using communitary practices that rely on this ancient knowledge”, concludes.

This is not the only possible outcome of the research on ancient Amazon occupation. Through the studies that reveal the complex of cities in the region — its roads, villages, cemeteries, and trash places — Eduardo Goés Neves research group aims to push for the official recongnition of this archeological heritage, forcing its protection.

“It is a path to reach protection of areas that are threatened by the current occupation of farms, roads, and economic activities”, explains. “Whe want to block its destruction”, adds.

Rescue of traditional practices lead to finance

The traditional practices of local and indigenous people can also unlock finance flows that are difficult to access, panelists said this Wednesday, 19, at the Regional Climate Foundations pavilion. “Sometimes, scholars, scientists, experts or activists went to a community to offer solutions that were designed without consultation, and without considering the local dynamics and knowledge that are very valuable”, criticize Alphonse Maindo, from Tropembos, an organisation from Democratic Republic of Congo that led local restoration of degraded lands, providing economic opportunities for the communities.

To understand the communities demand, help them to navigate into a climate project, and also engage with the donors to sensitize them to local needs is the purpose of the Brazilian Fundo Casa Socioambiental. “The first thing to understand it that people that take care of the forests around the world many times need to improve their livelihoods”, explains its Global Philanthropy Strategies director, Maria Amália Souza. 

In this sense, women and youth are the best pillars to develop projects on forest restoration, they highlight. “In many communities, man goes to the cities to get a job, exactly because the natural resources are not there anymore”, explains Maindo. “But after the projects, we see biodiversity reborning, the man camebacking and a whole village transformation”, celebrates, justifying that projects led by woman have preference to his organisation.

Closing the day at the pavilion, a meeting gathered leaders from Latin American communities reinforced the need of listening ancient knowledge. “The only way to move forward to a transformation in the world is putting people at the centre”, states the executive coordinator of Casa Fluminense, Larissa Amorim. 

Her panel aimed to be a space for connections and dialogues between innovative practices of social mobilization for those who are at the forefront of territorial agendas for community resilience, inclusive adaptation, mitigation, and climate justice. “Traditional knowledge is a technology that leads to solutions”, concludes.

La entrada How Amazonian ancient cities can help protect the forest and regulate the climate se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

Those were some of the stories told at a meeting held this Tuesday, 18, on the Regional Climate Foundations pavilion at COP30 in Belem, Brazil. “People that are religious believe and are mobilized, so faith is a powerful tool to collectively overcome difficulties through a movement that puts people and hope at the center”, stated the Global Organiser Director at GreenFaith, Meryne Warah. 

It is not new that religious leaders and structures are quite active on climate issues when it comes to bringing assistance to communities affected by an emergency — a flood, for example. But facing the extreme weather events led these leaders to think better about their reasons — and solutions for the communities they serve to. “It is very difficult to deliver a sermon to a congregation displaced or that was hit by hunger caused by climate change”, highlighted Warah.

So, in many places, pastors, priests, indigenous spiritual references are taking action to avoid the worst impacts. “Religious leaders are both influential on the territories and on local governments”, added José Vitor, from Black Christian Movement Brazil. “By their influence, they are able to bring adaptation and climate measurements to the territories”, completed.

Increasing role 

The role of faith and religion on climate change is increasing with more organised movements, such as GreenFaith or the Brazilian Acacia Project, from Black Christian Movement Brazil — that select and train spiritual leaderships from communities on climate action.

But it is not new. “The concept of environmental racism was forged by a pastor from the Baptist Church in the United States of America”, reminded Vitor. “Unfortunately, we have seen churches and religious leaders getting far from the violence that their communities suffered”, added.

“Defending the planet means protecting God’s creation. But not only that: it means protecting my relationship with my neighbour, with myself, with my environment”, stated Miriam Moreno, from Tearfund. “Religion offers a perspective that goes beyond individual responsibility and shows that what is needed is a systemic energy change”, concluded. 

Audience echoed the panelists

The debate with the audience, following the panelists’ presentations, was rich. A woman who works with marginalized communities in Rio de Janeiro pointed out that these are the regions that suffer most from the impacts of climate change: “Due to a lack of urban planning, segregation and social exclusion, many of these areas do not have schools, health services or security. The state is absent”, she said. “If you ask people, many will not be part of a union or an NGO. But 100% of them have some connection to a faith community”, added.

Also in the audience, Lorena Froz gave a testimony about what happens in her spiritual space of black African ancestry: the Ossain do Ile Ase Méjì Omi Odara. “I’m from Candomblé, and we are no longer using certain vestments and objects to leave out in nature”, revealed. “We need to think globally about how to bring climate thinking to the care of our territories”, concluded.

La entrada Faith is the path for climate action in vulnerable communities around the world se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

“We are in a time of discouragement, many things are not working, but there is a great diversity of Argentinian here”, celebrated one of the gathering organisers, Enrique Maurtua Konstantinidis. “Many more people showed up than I thought would”, completed.

The session echoed the historical importance of the country in climate change debates. “It is important to say that the Kyoto Protocol existed because there was an Argentine leading those negotiations”, exemplified Konstantinidis, who also mentioned the papal encyclical on climate change, written by the Argentinian Francis.

Together on the stage, four secondary school students told the audience their sensations of being the generation that will suffer most of the impacts of climate change. “We are here to be aware about the decisions that are being made here at COP30, as we are the people who will live in the world with the consequences of these decisions”, explained Justina Pinto, one of the speakers. “Actually, we and the generations that will come after us”, added.

She and her colleagues are participating in a COP for the first time. They were selected to be in Belem, Brazil, after writing a manifesto with eight demands from young people from Argentina: “For example, we must promote education about climate. So that young people can have a better world”.

The idea of the gathering was to generate enthusiasm among Argentinians. “We need to be connected, generating ideas that will generate projects, that will generate change”, concluded Konstantinidis.

Provinces ally to fill the space left by the presidency

Six Argentinian provinces developed a coalition called Green Alliance Argentina to occupy the space left by Javier Milei’s presidency in what refers to climate change action. “In the context of climate change denial, we are joining forces because the impact is felt across territories. There are no borders for this impact. And those of us who are closest to it are the subnational states and municipalities”, explained the Environmental Secretary of La Pampa province, Vanina Basso.

Earlier, she had participated in a debate with other subnational representatives from Mexico and Brazil on the challenges of action in the territory. “It was a very enriching panel because, beyond listening to the challenges and opportunities that each of us faces, we firmly agree that it is very necessary to start adapting now”, stated.

To do that, the funds need to find the direct way to the communities. “So that adaptation can truly be achieved and the vulnerability of our communities and our environment to the impacts of climate change can be reduced”, completed.

La entrada To affirm Argentina’s place at COP30, civil society gathers at the RCF pavilion se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

David Enríquez, the organiser of ‘Energy 2050, technologies, market, and regulation. A Latin American perspective on the path to net-zero’ presented the two volumes of the collective work, which gathered 60 different authors from Latin America and Spain.

“Our effort was putting together in a picture different approaches to answer one very simple question: how can you see your own sector or area in 2050, aiming to achieve the net-zero objective”, explained Enriquez.

He also highlighted that the books are not designed as an academic source of information, but for a wide public interested in the subject.

“It is interesting to note that Latin America has a cleaner energy matrix compared with other regions”, observed one of the authors of the book, Luisa Sierra. According to her, 60% of the energy in the continent is based on sustainable sources. “Although, we need to increase ambition to achieve net-zero in 2050”.

Despite the diversity among the authors of the book, with different backgrounds, perspectives, and areas of expertise, Enríquez noted that two points were common to almost all the analyses: scale and speed.

“We see many things happening in our countries, but not on the scale or speed we need”, noted the executive director of the Mexican Climate Intiative, Adrián Fernández, who also participated in the debate. “With the new NDCs 3.0 goals, countries need to realize that they can’t keep moving in this inertial, gradual, slow way to bring a real energy transition”, concluded.

Forty years of air quality monitoring

The second book presented in the session was ‘What the air told us: Stories behind four decades of air quality monitoring, policy, and climate change in Mexico’, in which the chapters were written by researchers that have studied and monitored Mexican air quality for 35 or 40 years.

“The subject of air pollution is not new, but is not solved”, noted Adrián Fernández, from ICM, who wrote the presentation of the book.

He exemplified this, mentioning that currently the air quality in Mexico is, on average, five times better than in the 80s. But there is still a high concentration of pollutants and particles that can threaten human health.

“What happened is that the international standards for air contamination are becoming more restrictive than before. So we are moving forward, but the targets are moving faster than the solutions”, concluded.

La entrada Books show evolution and challenges for energy transition and quality air improvement se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

“To make sure that policy commitments are executed in the real world we need a governance process based on a strategic vision and planification and also on transparency and accountability for net-zero transition”, explained the Chief Economist of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Erik Berglof, one of the participants of the debate “Governing the Net-Zero Transition: A Trilateral Dialogue with China, India, and Brazil”, this Thursday, 13. “Those are some of the conditions for engagement of the private sector, central in this process”, added.

As emerging economies, India, China and Brazil trajectories will shape the world’s climate future. These countries are some of the biggest emitters, but also laboratories of innovation, facing the dual challenge of sustaining economic growth while executing a profound energy and industrial transition. Brazil, for example, launched its country platform during COP29 — an instrument that is considered a model for many other countries. Mexico is also discussing the creation of its own country platform, subject approached in a different panel on the pavilion, led by the executive director of the Mexican Climate Initiative, Adrián Fernández (read below).

“The governance needed to unlock investments is happening as we speak. In the Brazilian case, some components are already created, such as the country platform”, celebrated the manager of Climate Policy from Institute for Climate and Society (iCS), Walter De Simoni. iCS is leading a research of tools that can prepare Brazil to receive structured investments, forwarding the implementation of the NDC, the Climate Plan, and the decarbonisation process.

Detailing some Indian initiatives on decarbonization of the country’s economy, the public policy expert at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, Arjun Dutt, highlighted that, when it comes to climate finance, is important to have “granular targets” — very detailed climate goals that break broad commitments into small actions that are measurable, enabling accountability to guide investment decisions: “In the case of India, those granular targets provided coherence across ministries in policymaking and also sent signals to investors in terms of the pipeline available”, said.

In China, there is a whole set of climate policies that are used to express the country’s ambition and attract investors. “We also have many implementing measures”, added Wang Yi from the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

“Working with partners, ministries and international development banks, it is possible to transform public policies in a innovative way. Obviously, each country is very different, but it is clear that there are many opportunities for collaboration among Brazil, China and India”, expressed the executive director of the Institute if Climate and Society, Maria Netto, in a brief speech during the event.

Unlocking funds for the Mexican NDC

One day after Mexico presented its 3.0 NDC — which, for the first time, introduces an absolute emissions cap for 2035 that covers all greenhouse gases and sectors of the economy — the Regional Climate Foundations debated how to finance these ambitious goals.

“A country platform is the critical missing piece for this plan”, expressed Adrián Fernández, the executive director of Mexican Climate Initiative, who developed a research on the subject. A country platform is a tool that gathers strategic projects that are aligned with the country’s climate goals, and transforms them into a portfolio for investors. “It is a dedicated financing roadmap, required for the timely and effective implementation”, explained Fernández.

The model suggested by ICM to the Mexican country platform is based on the successful experiences in countries like Brazil and South Africa. In this last country, the tool was responsible for getting funds to develop 10 GW of energy generation capacity, “95% of them in renewables”, observed the deputy chair of the Presidential Climate Commission from South Africa, Crispian Olver.

Good examples of initiatives that have already been developed — and proven successful — provide insight to countries interested in developing this type of mechanism. However, it is essential to recognise one’s own needs and guide the construction of the platform based on this domestic diagnosis, explained one of the directors of the Green Climate Fund, Kristin Lang. “Understanding the country’s needs is essential in the process”, argued. “With transparency, clear strategic priorities, and good projects, it is possible to unlock finance flows”, concluded.

La entrada Climate finance relies on good governance and established priorities se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

Around 60 events occurred in the space, bringing together the eight foundations and their grantees, but also public authorities and representatives of the private sector. “The contribution of the RCF pavilion was crucial because it allowed civil society, the private sector and government representatives to interact”, agreed Maria Netto, the executive director of Instituto Clima e Sociedade, from Brazil. “This included dialogue on the climate finance agenda, in particular the country platforms, and so talks on new solutions, for example in the agricultural sector and also in the area of green industries and energy”, explained.

Some aspects — as the energy just transition and the challenges to financing climate action — were approached from the angle of many of the countries that are represented in the pavilion, creating a diversity of point of views that is useful to improve the projects that are already being developed. “It was important to see how we are trying to implement actions in Brazil that relate to actions in other countries, such as South Africa, Mexico, China, India, Singapore and Indonesia. It was also nice to have the European Climate Foundation to exchange experiences that are sometimes more sophisticated in the global north”, completed Maria.

Netto also highlights the opportunities for bilateral dialogue. ‘We discussed biofuels with India, renewable energy and the green industry with several countries”.

For those organisations that were the proponents of the panels, the Regional Climate Foundations Pavilion was also a space to interact, share experiences and enhance network. “Thanks to the RCF Pavilion, Iswe Foundation was able to organize a conversation on accelerating climate action through increased citizen participation”, says David Levaï, from the Iswe Foundation.

“The visibility provided by the pavilion made it possible to establish new partnerships and highlight the importance of an inclusive and territorialised approach in the fight against climate change”, says Waleska Queiroz, from the executive committee of COP das Baixadas, a decentralized discussion around climate change that occur in the outskirts of Belém.

Road to COP30

Both Waleska Queiroz and David Levaï took theire events at the RCF pavilion as a road to COP30, in Belém. Queiroz plans to “place the Amazon at the centre of climate negotiations, valuing traditional knowledge and meeting the demands of local populations, including peripheral, quilombola, indigenous and riverine populations” — something that she already do with her COP das Baixadas and wants to make bigger next year.

Levaï presented in the pavilion the Global Citizens’ Assembly for COP30, an initiative endorsed by the Brazilian government that aims to drive “individuals and local communities to take action but will also bring grassroots energy to the COP process and pressure leaders to deliver on their promise of a just, fair and equitable transition”, according to him.

In this sense, the foundations that held the pavilion also hope that this experience will serve to strengthen the ties between them, in preparation for more incisive action at COP30. “Now we can think like a network, especially considering the difficulty in reaching agreement that we are seeing at COP29 between countries. This could be critical for COP30”, says Maria Netto.

“It’s essential that civil Society unite efforts towards the next climate change negotiations. It will be our Latin American COP, so, I think it’s a good opportunity for civil Society within Latin American region to raise voice on the needs and priorities”, concludes Mariana Gutiérerez Grados.

La entrada RCF Pavilion was a space for dialogue in Baku and prepared civil society for COP30 in Belém se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.

The action is part of the exposition ‘Building Hope’, which could be accessed in the PCF pavilion during all the days of COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, and that closed its doors this Friday (22). The main idea was to use the emotions of COP’s participants to remind them they are fighting for a collective goal, for a better world for all living beings on the planet.

“Our aim with this exposition was to remind people why they were at the COP, and people’s reaction showed that it worked. There were many texts and comments showing that there is hope in this fight”, says Eduardo Carvalho, the curator of the exposition and the RCF pavilion. Besides the post cards, the exposition had an interactive wall with hidden inspiring messages as well photos and texts.

The post cards were so many that the space became small to all of them. Some had only words of encouragement — “You are doing great”, or “Stay strong, girl” — and others highlighted reasons to stand up: “For the girls in rural Ethiopia who couldn’t make it, I’m here”, or For a world where all types of life can co-exist <3”. 

There were post cards saying general messages for the humanity: “Differentiated by culture, united by humanity and ethics”, wrote someone from Egypt. And others really personal: “I came to not feel alone while doing the cook and simultaneously built a global community of activists, advocates, policy makers, artists, etc. I’m so thankful”, registered Gunjam.

Some of the texts addressed specific topics of the climate agenda: the NDCs, energy, climate justice,  nature based solutions, youth and women, indigenous people. “People felt re-energised in our pavilion when they saw that the keywords of the negotiations were also reflected there, in a more poetic way”, registers Carvalho.

Mostly of the messages were written in English, but there were also texts in Portuguese, Azeri, Mandarin and other languages. Post cards were ‘sent’ from Pakistan, Madagascar, Colombia, Brazil, Brazil, Europe. “We have fulfilled our role of using culture as a platform for the climate agenda. And we’ve only just begun”, promises Eduardo Carvalho, that is also a researcher on the intersection of climate and culture agendas.

He launched during the COP a report about the issue and aim to improve this connection during next year and in particular at COP30, that will be in Brazil, his country. “We aim to be able to use the soft power of culture in Belém to transform people’s imaginations, to create the world we want to build for all species and for our descendants”, conclude.

La entrada Thanks for making the world a better place: letters from the future in the RCF pavilion se publicó primero en Regional Climate Foundations.