5 key takeaways from COP30

By Jannis Bille, 26 January 2026

COP30 was a reality check. After years of climate summits promising that 1.5°C was “within reach,” the Belém conference raised what many feared: that target is slipping away. 

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom – amid sobering truths came some progress, new financial commitments, and a renewed push for adaptation alongside mitigation. From the fight to keep warming in check, to the struggle over climate finance and the future of carbon markets, COP30 delivered plenty to unpack.

Here are five key takeaways that matter for businesses, policymakers, and anyone invested in our planet’s future. 

Is 1.5°C still in reach?

COP30 was the first to openly admit that the much vaunted 1.5°C target is slipping out of our grasp, with a temporary overshoot now likely – and UN Secretary General António Guterres calling it ‘inevitable’. While it was not further specified how this limitation should be achieved, the Global Implementation Accelerator and Belém Mission to 1.5 was launched for ambitious action. 

Today, current pledges are projected to lead temperatures to rise 2.3–2.5°C by 2100. This realisation emphasises the central need for adaptation in parallel to ongoing mitigation measures. 

This is particularly pertinent for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) professionals as businesses urgently need to adapt to a world in which extreme weather events are becoming ever more regular and unpredictable. We need to keep in mind this aim to mitigate the impacts of climate change, adapt to what we cannot mitigate, and how anything we are unable to adapt will lead to economic and social loss.

Tripling climate finance by 2035

COP29 had established a new climate finance target, which included a $300 billion-a-year goal, as well as a vaguer effort to reach $1.3 trillion, both by 2035. 

At COP30 developed countries agreed to also triple adaptation finance by 2035 – however no baseline year was set for this target, leaving ambiguity. Therefore, tensions between developing and developed countries, the respective recipient and funding nations, are likely to persist as we continue to fail to agree on binding financial commitments. 

However, the recognition of the need for increased adaptation funds is a promising shift towards a parallel prioritisation of mitigation alongside adaptation. 

Fossil fuel and deforestation roadmap

High-profile discussions took place on both a global fossil fuel roadmap and a deforestation roadmap. These followed Brazilian President Lula's comments that, ‘the world need[s] roadmaps to justly and strategically reverse deforestation [and] overcome dependence on fossil fuels’.  

While these did not come to fruition, Brazil announced the aim of presenting the two roadmaps at COP31 in Türkiye, the development of which would be guided by an upcoming conference in Colombia in April 2026. 

The inability to agree a fossil fuel roadmap led to disappointment amongst some countries and observers, but in light of the resistance met at previous COPs on similar topics, it was also not a surprise. However, it does leave a bitter taste that the Amazon COP was unable to reach a deforestation roadmap, considering the central role Brazil had attributed to the Amazon, and its central role for the world's climate.

Article 6 and carbon markets

Carbon markets received a lot of attention at COP30, with various events focused on the intertwined potential of carbon markets financing the protection of the natural environment, such as the Amazon. 

As tempting as the combination of natural protection and carbon offsetting for businesses sounds, discussions often centred around the imperative need for high quality carbon offsets ensuring real carbon sequestration and the protection of virgin forest biomes. 

For GRC and sustainability professionals this will mean conducting complex due diligence to verify relevant quality claims, as well as facing the increasing practical challenges of securing sufficient offset volumes in an increasingly competitive offtake market.

On Article 6, the Paris Agreement's carbon market mechanisms, focus shifted to implementation and transparency – however unresolved issues in Article 6.2 trades remained. To address the risk of stranded CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) projects, a six-month extension for CDM projects to transition to the Article 6.4 framework was agreed, with the CDM set to close at the end of 2026. 

Perception of COP30 outcomes

COP30 didn’t deliver a breakthrough, but it did deliver a wake-up call. The path to 1.5°C is narrowing, finance gaps remain, and the fossil fuel debate is far from settled. Yet, the commitments to accelerate implementation and boost adaptation funding show that momentum is still alive. 

For businesses and policymakers, the message is clear: we can’t afford to wait for perfect agreements. Action – bold, immediate, and collaborative – is the only way forward. For GRC professionals, this means a key focus on implementation, supply chain resilience, embedding nature and biodiversity, and facing the crucial need for data to effectively manage higher climate risks for your business. 

The next COP will be here before we know it, but the climate clock won’t stop ticking. Let’s make sure we’re not just keeping the metaphorical car on the road, but steering it toward a sustainable future.