The annual two-week summit, to be held in Belém, in the heart of the Amazon, aims to advance and strengthen collective action and the implementation of the Paris Agreement, a vital international treaty adopted to limit global warming.
Biodiversity and Amazon rainforest expert Dr Filipe França is among the delegates presenting at the conference.
Dr Filipe França, Senior Research Fellow in Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, said: “I’m so proud that COP30 is being held in the country I was born, home to the ecosystem I’ve been studying for over 15 years, and in the city where I have various research projects and project partners.”
Dr França is leading the first large-scale assessment of insect biodiversity changes across the tropics. The research programme is surveying trees and insects, such as dung beetles, butterflies, moths, and bees, to measure forest health in the Brazilian Amazon, Ghana, and Malaysia.
He said: “We are studying insects to measure nature health in tropical forests. It will be an honour to present our research at COP30, which helps to champion the voices of the unheard, and involve them in discussions about the climate of our shared planet so we can learn more from each other and reduce important knowledge gaps.”
The project builds on a previous initiative called Voices of Amazonia, funded by the University of Bristol Cabot Institute for the Environment Seedcorn Fund, and has a strong inclusionary focus, collaborating closely with policymakers, park managers, local and traditional communities to co-develop research and guidelines for conservation strategies and environmental practices and policies.
Dr França added: “This event is the ideal platform to showcase our work. I’m also looking forward to engaging in activities, discussions and negotiations involving climate-biodiversity relationships, with a particular focus on National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions for countries of interest, such as Brazil, Ghana, Malaysia, and the UK.”
Flooding and climate expert Dr Laurence Hawker, Indigenous knowledges specialist Dr Karen Tucker and environmental politics expert Dr Katharina Richter are also participating. Dr Tucker and Dr Richter will be presenting their research at a side event they co-organised with partners in Brazil, Colombia, Peru and the UK.
Dr Tucker, Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Bristol, said: “The aim of the event is to consider the ways in which climate finance can better support Indigenous rights and development strategies. It will present new analysis of the social impacts of carbon offset projects in different jurisdictions, and the extent to which existing climate finance mechanisms adequately address the threats that forests now face.”
Dr Richter, Lecturer in Climate Change Politics at the University of Bristol, will be focusing on climate finance negotations, one of the big topics at COP30.
She said: “At last year’s COP29 in Baku, negotiators agreed on a climate finance deal that requires all actors to provide at least $1.3 trillion of climate finance per year by 2035 to developing countries. The Brazilian COP30 presidency has now published the much anticipated ‘Baku to Belém roadmap’ which provides a framework for achieving this goal.
“Over the coming weeks, negotiators are expected to wrestle with such issues like who is responsible for scaling up climate finance, what counts as climate finance and which areas to prioritise (mitigation vs. adaptation). The outcome will be crucial for developing countries, who say they need trillions of dollars each year to adapt to and mitigate climate change-induced extreme weather events and changing weather patterns.”
Climate law and policy specialist Dr Alice Venn will be volunteering with Legal Response International (LRI), providing impartial legal assistance to developing country negotiators involved in the UN climate negotiations.
She said: “Working with LRI offers a fantastic opportunity to put my research expertise into practice in an impactful way. I'm also excited to see how the recent International Court of Justice opinion on climate change will influence the discussions.”
Climate justice and climate policy expert Dr Alix Dietzel, climate adaptation specialist Dr Ailish Craig, weather extremes and health impacts expert Dr Ruby Lieber, and green macro-finance and industrial policy specialist Stefan Zylinski are participating virtually. Other online delegates include environmental justice expert Temitope Onifade, political ecologist Dr Jaskiran Kaur Chohan, sustainable composites specialist Su Natasha Mohamed, engineering planning expert Dr Kathryn Terzano, and marketing and digital innovation specialist Dr Nikolaos Stylos.
The University of Bristol Cabot Institute for the Environment is part of the UK Universities Climate Network, collaborating with more than 80 other UK-based universities on research and policy briefings in the run-up to COP. Find out more about its involvement this year.
Dr Alix Dietzel, Senior Lecturer in Climate Justice, and COP lead at the University of Bristol, said: “COP30 marks a pivotal moment for global climate action, and it’s vital that inclusivity remains at the heart of how we engage. At the Cabot Institute for the Environment, we’ve introduced an open selection process for our COP delegates to ensure diversity across disciplines, backgrounds, and career stages.
“This year’s team includes PhD students, early career researchers, and senior academics working on everything from climate justice and law to biodiversity and hazard mapping. That breadth of expertise not only strengthens our collective impact but also reflects the kind of collaboration needed to tackle the biggest challenges ahead. For me, the greatest opportunities at COP lie in listening to underrepresented voices and translating those insights into fair, actionable solutions for a just transition.”