By Betsey Piette
November 19, 2025

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) opened in Belém, Brazil, on Nov. 10 to a storm of controversy and little hope that this annual gathering will be any different from those in past years. Over 50,000 delegates from 193 countries and the European Union registered to participate in what climate columnist Claire Brown described as the World Cup of negotiations over global warming. (New York Times, Nov. 5)

While President Donald Trump skipped COP30, his oil and gas industry allies did not.  The largest single delegation at the summit included 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists, with 13 executives from ExxonMobil and Chevron, using trade group status to gain access.

Exxon and Chevron are among the 57 polluters which have been directly linked to 80% of global fossil fuel CO2 emissions since the 2015 Paris Accords. (Guardian, Apr. 3, 2024) Despite previous COP summits’ calls for transition away from fossil fuels in order to meet climate targets, polluting fuel emissions are expected to hit a record high in 2025.

Methane gas (CH4) emissions released in the extraction of natural gas and oil through hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the U.S. have increased 18% since 2015. With Trump’s promotion of greenhouse gas producers, this will only worsen.

Although electricity from wind and solar power is cheaper than electricity produced from burning coal, oil and natural gas, Trump pushed back against production of green energy, even ending federal funding for these projects – which were already under construction!

Just weeks before the COP30 summit, Petrobras, Brazil’s majority state-owned oil company, succeeded in passing a bill that dismantled Brazil’s restrictions on oil exploration and road development in the Amazon.  This allowed the company to secure a license to drill for oil roughly 200 miles from Belém.  This license was previously denied over concerns of widespread biodiversity loss in the fragile Amazon ecosystem in the event of a fuel spill.

The expansion of the fossil fuel industry’s participation is not the only controversy surrounding the COP30’s location in Belém. Despite protests by Indigenous people and environmental groups, the construction of facilities to host the 50,000 COP30 summit delegates and access highways to get them there, involved destroying over 100,000 trees across thousands of acres of Amazon rainforest. (Resilience.org, Nov. 10)

The contentious project involved building an 8-mile long four-lane highway, cutting through the rainforest, disrupting wildlife, and negatively impacting local communities by cutting off access to people on opposite sides of the road.  The summit also involved 30 large-scale construction projects, the redevelopment of a port for cruise ships, and spending $81 million to double the capacity of the Belém International Airport.

People’s Summit and Indigenous resistance

The COP30 summit takes place amidst growing dangers of increasing climate catastrophes.  In addition to rising global temperature levels despite pledges to lower them since the Paris Accords, mega hurricanes like Melissa in the Caribbean in November continue to bring about massive infrastructure destruction and multiple deaths.

Heatwaves and droughts threaten agriculture in several areas of the world. Wildfires and torrential rains are happening in areas never impacted by them before. Glaciers continue to melt at record rates and sea levels have risen 1.6 inches since 2015, impacting populations in areas at sea level.

Working to forge resistance and an alternative to the official U.N. discussions, the People’s Summit opened on Nov. 12 in Belém, with its 5,000 delegates arriving aboard 200 boats, sailing over 1,864 miles along the Amazon River basin. The Summit, involving Indigenous people, peasants, and environmental activists, is challenging the growing environmental damage. It is meeting alongside the official U.N. sponsored COP30 providing an organizing space for people and movements not included in the official climate meetings.

The Summit calls for investment in low-impact, resilient farming as practiced by Indigenous groups to preserve nature. The mobilization includes popular movements from 62 countries. Organized by over 1,100 groups, the Summit aims to bring over 30,000 people for discussion about how to challenge environmental destruction.

As a result of coordination with the Brazilian government, around 400 Indigenous leaders gained access to the official spaces at COP30. An Indigenous “village” AldeiaCOP was also established within COP30 for meeting space for 3,000 members of Indigenous delegations from Latin America, Africa, and Asia, constituting the largest presence of Indigenous people in the history of climate conferences. (resumen-english.org, Nov.15)

AldeiaCOP organizers stressed that there can be no solution to the pending climate catastrophe without the Indigenous presence, and a commitment to the demarcation and protection of Indigenous territories.

Two protests during COP30, centered on Indigenous rights, disrupted the entrance to the conference. On Nov. 11, youth activists and Indigenous protesters forced their way into the venue, confronting U.N. security police. A second action on Nov. 14 involved 90 Indigenous people blocking the main entrance for several hours.

An estimated 20,000 Indigenous people and environmental activists marched through Belém on Nov. 15, halting traffic outside COP30 and demanding that governments step up to combat climate change.

Indigenous activist Takak Xikrin said, “For the first time, at a COP event, we, the Indigenous peoples, are occupying this space and speaking for ourselves.” He was part of an Indigenous delegation carrying banners against water contamination in their territory and protesting logging and oil drilling in the Amazon. (Politico, Nov. 15)