What can we expect from COP30?

The COP30 climate summit taking place in the Brazilian city of Belém in November.

It's run by the United Nations (UN) and every year is one of the biggest events in the calendar, especially for world leaders and environmental campaigners.

So what does COP stand for, and what can we expect to see happen?

Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about COP30.

What does COP stand for?

COP stands the Conference of the Parties, and is attended by countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

That was an agreement made in 1992 when countries came together and agreed that they would avoid any behaviours that could lead to "dangerous climate change".

Last year's conference was held in Baku, Azerbaijan

Every year since then world governments have been coming together to make plans on how to tackle the growing climate change crisis.

The number shows how many there have been up until now, so with first COP being held in 1995 we're now in year 30.

When and where is COP30?

COP30 will take place in Belém, Brazil from 10 - 21 November 2025.

This region is the home of the Amazon rainforest, one of the world's most vital ecosystems, which stores billions of tonnes of carbon and is home to thousands of indigenous communities and species.

The country's president is happy the conference is being held there, and says it will be an historic summit because it is "a COP in the Amazon, not a COP about the Amazon".

The rainforest continues to face widespread deforestation, something Brazil's president has promised to stop - but others are upset that the government has approved measures for the conference that they say will damage the rainforest.

One example of this is a new four-lane highway to ease traffic to the city, which means cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected rainforest to build it.

Who will be at COP30?

It's not been announced which world leaders will attend, so we're not sure if the UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer will be there.

It's also unclear if there will be any representation from the US, but this could be unlikely since President Trump withdrew the country from the Paris Climate Agreement, although this won't take effect until January 2026.

Prince William and King Charles III attended a Countdown to COP30 event together at the Natural History Museum earlier this month

One person who has said they will be at COP30, however, is the Prince of Wales.

William will attend in place of his father King Charles, who has been a key figure at previous climate summits.

The King even gave the opening address in Dubai for COP28.

What's the big deal about COP30?

Every year at COP countries make commitments about what they will do over the next year with the aim of reducing climate change.

But this year's summit is particularly important as it marks critical halfway point to 2030, when countries are expected to meet their climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.

The Paris Agreement set out target to limit long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C

In Paris in 2015, nearly 200 countries agreed a series of measures to tackle climate change which were designed to avoid some of the worst consequences of rising temperatures.

This year 2025 is the deadline for countries to submit their updated national climate plans, known as NDCs under the Paris Agreement.

COP30 will also be the first conference to return to Brazil since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, which led to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change being established.

What will COP30 focus on?

There have been calls for COP30 to focus on saving tropical forests.

Indeed Brazil's president has said that he hopes the meeting will provide an opportunity to focus on the needs of the Amazon, show the forest to the world, and show what the local government has been doing to protect it.

Brazil has the largest share of the Amazon, with the rest distributed among other South American countries including Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru

But more widely COP30 will focus on the efforts needed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C, the presentation of new NDCs and checking what progress countries have made on the pledges made at COP29.