Live at COP30: Fiji’s Chief Negotiator Sivendra Michael Warns Fossil Fuel Language Has Fallen Out of the MutiRão Text

SDG News’ Heeta Lakhani interviews Permanent Secretary Sivendra Michael, Fiji’s chief negotiator, on the MutiRão package, missing fossil fuel language, and why SIDS are pushing to triple adaptation finance and protect 1.5°C as a red line. Belém — Away from the closed-door rooms where the COP30 presidency is working through competing red lines, Fiji’s Permanent […]
COP30 Momentum Shifts to Panama as UN’s CRIC23 Set to Tackle Global Land Degradation

Panama City — December 2025 Heat rises over Panama City as the country prepares to welcome delegates from 196 nations and the European Union for the twenty third session of the Review Committee on the Implementation of the Convention. When CRIC23 opens on 1 December, Panama will step onto the global stage at a pivotal […]
U.S. Launches Accelerated Environmental Rollbacks as COP30 Negotiators Push for Climate Progress

Under the shadow of COP30 negotiations in Belém, the United States has taken some of its most sweeping steps in decades to dismantle environmental protections. While nearly 200 governments work to shore up global climate action, the U.S. — notably absent from this year’s summit — has moved to weaken three core pillars of its […]
Microsoft’s CSO Melanie Nakagawa Shares Her Top Three Takeaways from COP30

by Melanie Nakagawa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Microsoft I have attended many COPs over the course of my career — 13 to be exact! I’ve experienced them from three different vantage points: first as part of the NGO community, then as part of a government delegation, and now as part of the business community. While […]
COP30 Outcomes Set New Finance Commitments but Leave Fossil Fuel Phase-Out Unresolved

Belém — November 2025 Rain hung over Belém’s waterfront as negotiators pushed through the final hours of COP30, closing two intense weeks with a package of decisions that will influence climate policy, cross-border trade and corporate strategy for the next decade. The outcomes delivered sweeping commitments on finance, adaptation and just transition, yet stopped short […]
Live at COP30: Palau Says Small Island States Are ‘Already Living’ the Climate Emergency

SDG News’ Heeta Lakhani interviews Palau’s National Climate Change Coordinator Xavier Matsutaro on the stalled MutiRão package, presidency-led text drafting, and why Small Island States say 1.5°C is now a matter of survival — not theory. Belém — As rain began to fall over the COP30 venue, the summit’s tempo shifted into the tense, uncertain […]
Live at COP30: IISD Policy Advisor Jeffrey Qi Warns Adaptation Finance Gap Could Reach $319 Billion

SDG News’ Heeta Lakhani interviews IISD Policy Advisor Jeffrey Qi on stalled adaptation negotiations, the global goal on adaptation and why hallway diplomacy may decide this COP’s outcome. Belém — By mid-afternoon on Wednesday, the summit’s pace had shifted. Negotiators were walking faster, conversations were sharper, and the COP30 Presidency had begun taking control of […]
BREAKING NEWS – FIRE ERUPTS INSIDE COP30 VENUE, DELEGATES EVACUATED

Belém, Brazil — A fire broke out inside a pavilion at the COP30 climate negotiations on Thursday, prompting an emergency evacuation of delegates and temporarily halting negotiations in Belém. Witnesses reported smoke rising from the structure as alarms sounded across the conference venue and thousands of attendees were directed outside while fire crews rushed in […]
Live at COP30: Panama’s Climate Envoy Juan Carlos Monterrey Says COP30 Must Deliver an End to Deforestation

SDG News’ Heeta Lakhani interviews Juan Carlos Monterrey – Panama’s climate envoy and COP30 Bureau Vice President – on forests, fossil fuels and the urgent text negotiations underway inside the summit. Belém — As COP30 enters the most pressurised stretch of its second week, the corridors outside the Amazon Room are thick with stalled conversations, […]
Deloitte Positions Business Leadership at the Center of COP30 Action Agenda

Deloitte’s pavilion in the COP30 Green Zone has become one of the conference’s most active business hubs, hosting a packed agenda designed to translate global climate goals into concrete pathways for corporate action. Across ten thematic days, the firm used its platform in Belém to spotlight nature-based solutions, supply-chain transformation, sustainable finance, and the technologies […]