Maria da Graça Carvalho discussed the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30), scheduled to take place in Belém, Brazil, from November 10 to 21.
Today and Friday, a leaders’ summit convened by the Brazilian government is bringing together more than fifty heads of state and government. Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and Maria da Graça Carvalho will be in attendance.
COP30 unites almost every country worldwide, with the primary goal of preventing global warming caused by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels.
A decade ago in Paris, countries endorsed the Paris Agreement, pledging efforts to ensure that temperatures do not rise more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with a preference to limit the increase to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Asked about achieving a successful COP30, Carvalho emphasized the necessity for “concrete results,” not merely “large negotiations” and “grand declarations” but rather “very concrete outcomes.”
She particularly pointed to three focal areas: mitigation, adaptation, and a just transition.
In terms of mitigation, COP30 should assess the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by each country and identify further actions needed to enhance these reduction efforts, she noted.
Regarding adaptation, she urged a “more global strategy” for cooperation, and the same applies to a just transition.
“We need a fair international transition, including international cooperation where countries struggling with this transition receive support from those that can manage it better,” she stated.
Carvalho highlighted Portugal’s efforts, such as converting Cabo Verde’s debt into climate action support, a model to be extended to São Tomé and Príncipe.
She stressed the vital importance of a fair transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a clean economy, involving countries facing challenges as well as island states, which emit the least greenhouse gases but are most affected by climate change impacts.
“An international cooperation that considers the plight of these states would be a positive outcome of COP30,” she remarked.
Referring to the debt conversion of Cabo Verde and São Tomé, Carvalho pointed out that Portugal has managed to have the European Commission recognize this effort in the national greenhouse gas emission reductions, up to 3%.
“We are still striving for a 4% or 5% acknowledgment but have secured the 3%, providing further motivation to continue these debt conversion systems; beneficial for Portugal and even more so for the countries we are partnering with,” she explained.
The Minister of Environment and Energy acknowledged that the current global contributions to greenhouse gas reduction fall “far short” of the Paris Agreement goals, expressing hope that COP30 will “exceed initial proposals” by states and achieve additional efforts in emission reduction.
“That is my expectation, to see an additional effort beyond the initial state proposals, those already known,” she told Lusa.
Carvalho will be in Belém as of today, attending the official opening of COP and the inauguration of Portugal’s pavilion next Monday, returning for the final week of COP30.
