18 August, 2025, The Hague
Mieke Molthof; Senior Policy Advisor International Affairs
The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP30, is the upcoming 30th United Nations Climate Change conference, to be held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025. On 13 November, COP30 will feature a designated Health Day.
Next to the World Health Assembly, COP30 ranks amongst the best chances this year to advance national policy on climate and health. As 2024 was the warmest year on record globally, and the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above its pre-industrial level, diplomatic efforts in the UN climate talks to address the health impacts of climate change are more important than ever. All the more so in a context of growing geopolitical instability. The Brazilian COP30 presidency has an opportunity to shift the contribution of the health community from rhetoric to an enabling force for climate action.
COP30 is expected to involve a broad range of non-state actors, going beyond traditional state-level negotiations. This includes businesses, cities, financial institutions, and civil society organizations, who will contribute to climate action through voluntary initiatives, coalitions, and parallel events. The COP30 presidency is actively promoting the involvement of these actors.
Therefore, the perspectives of the Global Health Hub partners—especially those affiliated with Community of Practice 3 (“Addressing the impact of climate change on public health, and vice versa”)—are of great importance in shaping this dialogue and action. Their insights and practical experiences are essential to ensure that health perspectives play a meaningful and influential role in both the negotiations and the implementation of climate–health strategies.
To that end, below you can find a brief explanation on the general process of the COP, as well as a roadmap to this year’s important edition: COP30.
General process of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP)
United Nations climate change conferences are the foremost global forums for multilateral discussion of climate change matters, and have an incredibly busy schedule. They have grown exponentially in size over the past two decades—from small working sessions into the largest annual conferences currently held under the auspices of the United Nations—and are now among the largest international meetings in the world. The intergovernmental negotiations have likewise become increasingly complex and involve an ever-increasing number of officials from governments all over the world, at all levels, as well as huge numbers of representatives from civil society and the global news media.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) refers to the annual international meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) where parties negotiate and take decisions on climate change action. The COP serves as the supreme decision-making body for the UNFCCC, reviewing implementation of the Convention and its related legal instruments. Parties, representing governments, negotiate on various aspects of climate change, including emission reductions, adaptation, and finance. Decisions are typically made by consensus among the parties.
Formal and informal negotiations occur throughout the year, with pre-COP meetings and inter-sessional meetings providing the basis for decisions at the conference. A key part of the UNFCCC’s process is the Bonn Climate Change Conference, an annual mid-year meeting that provides a forum for technical discussions and negotiations that inform the annual Conference of the Parties (COP).