COP30 host Brazil has published the “Baku to Belém roadmap”, an 81-page plan for how to mobilise $1.3tn a year in climate finance for developing nations by 2035, Climate Home News reports. According to the outlet, COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago said yesterday that the plan could spark a “positive tipping point” that drives an exponential shift in global climate funding. However, it adds that Corrêa do Lago told journalists “there is no plan” for the roadmap to be formally discussed at the COP30 summit or reflected in its final outcomes. Bloomberg says the report also “suggests that the world’s 100 biggest companies and institutional investors could report on how they are financing climate pledges made by countries”. 

The Guardian says “new taxes on the super-rich, fossil fuels, financial transactions and highly polluting and carbon-intensive activities” are among the “top recommendations” in the blueprint. It adds that “in a surprisingly strong intervention”, the presidents of COP30 and COP29 called for “strengthened international cooperation on taxation and experiments with voluntary partnerships between countries”. BusinessGreen says the roadmap is “backed by more than 200 governments, banks, businesses and communities”. Carbon Brief has all the details in its coverage of the plan.

MORE ON COP

• Reuters reports that the pre-COP “leadership summit” will kick off today, with 53 leaders scheduled to speak over two days. It adds: “Missing from the lineup are the leaders of four of the world’s five most-polluting economies – China, the US, India and Russia – with only the leader of the European Union showing up.” 
• There is widespread ongoing coverage of the EU’s new climate target, to reduce emissions by 90% by 2040 compared with 1990 levels. The news is covered in outlets including the Financial Times, Politico, Hill, Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters, BusinessGreen, Hindu, Le Monde and Agence France-Presse.
• Agence France-Presse reports that Brazilian authorities have chosen the “Curupira” as the mascot for COP30. It adds: “With flaming hair and a piercing gaze, this legendary figure from Amazonian folklore is the guardian of the rainforest.” 
• Reuters reports that business and finance leaders are gathering in Brazil’s business center of Sao Paulo, “rather than jockeying for hard-to-find hotel rooms in the smaller Amazonian city of Belém”.
• Singapore’s environment minister warned today that “momentum on global climate action is waning as geopolitical issues pile uncertainties on businesses and governments”, Reuters reports. 
• Bloomberg says: “Fallout from lethal police raids in Rio de Janeiro and mounting regional fears about US military intervention in Venezuela are threatening to overshadow the major UN climate summit set to begin in Brazil.”

There is continuing coverage of the UK’s decision not to invest in the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), a $125bn fund to protect tropical forests that is set to be launched by Brazil today. The Guardian reports that Brazilian president Lula da Silva “has had difficulty persuading cash-strapped governments, many of which are already cutting their aid budgets, to provide money” and calls the UK’s decision “a major letdown, as the UK has previously played a big role in stopping deforestation”. The newspaper continues: “However, the Guardian understands Downing Street may consider contributing directly to the fund in future. The TFFF is regarded as being at too early a stage at present, and there are concerns about how it will work in practice.” The article adds that “Norway is likely to hold firm to its commitment to the TFFF, but the Guardian understands that the German government may also be wavering”. 

According to the Times, the UK had “previously been reported to be considering a $1bn contribution”. The Press Association says the decision comes as chancellor Rachel Reeves “grapples with balancing the books ahead of the budget this month”. Reuters says: “The decision disappointed Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, sources told Reuters, particularly given Britain had helped create it and Lula had personally written to prime minister Keir Starmer last Friday to request an investment.” Separately, the New York Times outlines the structure of the fund. For more on the TFFF, see Carbon Brief’s new explainer.

MORE ON KEIR STARMER

• The Press Association reports that Keir Starmer has “outlined new clean power investment deals in the UK”, including “£100m to Belfast Harbour to help deliver two offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea”. The Daily Mirror also has the story.
• The Guardian reports on comments by Starmer ahead of COP30. He said: “Britain isn’t waiting to act – we’re leading the way, as we promised.”
• Politico has an article under the headline: “Keir Starmer, climate leader (when the Treasury lets him).”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is “expected to unveil plans for per-mile road charges for drivers of electric cars at the budget”, the Financial Times reports. The newspaper continues: “The plans could involve the introduction of road charges for EVs from 2028 following a public consultation and could raise about £1.8bn a year for the Treasury by the early 2030s. One proposal being looked at by the government would result in drivers of EVs facing charges of 3p per mile in addition to other road taxes. The charges would aim to counteract a long-anticipated drop in government revenue from fuel duty that applies to petrol and diesel, as more motorists ditch cars with internal combustion engines for EVs.” 

The Press Association quotes AA president Edmund King, who said: “Whilst we acknowledge the Treasury is losing fuel duty revenue as drivers go electric, the government has to tread carefully unless their actions slow down the transition to EVs. The ZEV mandate for 28% of new car sales to be zero emissions this year will not be met as sales are running at just 22%.” The Daily Telegraph carries the story on its frontpage. The Times, BBC News and the Daily Mail also cover the news. Separately, the Daily Telegraph reports that “Rachel Reeves is eyeing a raid on funding for heat pumps and home insulation to help cut £170 off energy bills”. 

MORE ON UK

• Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has launched a campaign “to get Britain drilling again”, arguing that the UK is facing an “oil and gas emergency”, BusinessGreen reports. The Daily Telegraph, Sky News, Daily Mail, Sun and Press Association all cover the story.
• BusinessGreen reports that the Sizewell C nuclear plant “passed a major milestone yesterday”, with confirmation that it has “reached financial close”. Meanwhile, BBC News reports that Hinkley Point B “will begin its 95-year decommissioning process after regulators granted formal consent”.
• Chancellor Rachel Reeves is “being urged to investigate a deal that brings together energy giants Shell and the majority shareholder in the Rosebank oilfield”, the Scotsman reports. 
• The Guardian says: “The Drax power plant in North Yorkshire is in line to earn £458.6m a year between 2027 and 2031 after the government agreed to extend its subsidies beyond 2026, according to analysts at Ember, a climate thinktank.”
• “The government has proposed ambitious new targets to deliver the “near-total elimination” of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a powerful greenhouse gas,” BusinessGreen reports. 

The “extreme wind speeds” seen during Hurricane Melissa earlier this month were five times more likely and 7% more intense because of climate change, according to new analysis by the World Weather Attribution team covered by Bloomberg. It continues: “The WWA team also found that climate change made Melissa’s five-day rainfall total about 30% more intense in Jamaica and twice as likely compared to a world without greenhouse gas pollution. The analysis was more stark for eastern Cuba, where Melissa made landfall a day later, finding that climate change made the intense rainfall nine times likelier…The high Caribbean Sea surface temperatures were six times more likely than would have been in the previous climate.” The New York Times and Associated Press also cover the analysis.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that “Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has declared a state of emergency after typhoon Kalmaegi left at least 114 people dead and nearly 130 missing in central provinces in the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country this year”. It adds: “The typhoon’s onslaught affected nearly 2 million people and displaced more than 560,000 villagers, including nearly 450,000 who were evacuated to emergency shelters, the office of civil defence said.” The South China Morning Post, Associated Press, Independent, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera.

MORE ON EXTREME WEATHER

• The Associated Press reports that “Vietnam is rethinking how it copes with floods after a year of relentless storms collapsed hillsides and left vast parts of cities under water.”

China’s green bond market has “overtaken western rivals” for the first time in 2025, issuing a record $70.3bn of bonds “either certified or aligned with the Climate Bonds Initiative”, an international organisation, Financial Times reports. Ma Jun, a former chief economist at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), tells the newspaper that the country’s “green bond market” was launched a decade ago. The newspaper adds that many projects on China’s markets, “particularly large-scale infrastructure, require long-term financing, but banks were reluctant to lend on such time horizons, said Ma”. However, western countries are “unable to offer the same support because green finance is viewed as a political issue and central banks must be regarded as market neutral”, the newspaper says, citing Alain Naef, assistant professor at the ESSEC Business School in Cergy in France.

MORE ON CHINA

• Reuters publishes an article by freelance journalist You Xiaoying, discussing China’s climate leadership role as global climate action stands “at a crossroads”.
• In a two-part series, Xinhua hails Chinese president Xi Jinping’s focus on “green and low-carbon” development and the country’s efforts on delivering “dual carbon” goals.
• People’s Daily published an article under the byline of foreign minister Wang Yi. The article calls for promoting the establishment of a “clean and beautiful world”, adhering to green and low-carbon development and pursuing a path of sustainable development.
• An article by Bloomberg says that China, having spent $468bn on “drilling and exploration” since 2019 to reduce foreign energy reliance and ensure energy security, will continue to increase domestic oil and gas production.
• Cumulative electricity trading volume between China and ASEAN has exceeded 75,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh), with “green electricity” accounting for more than 90% of the total, China Electric Power News reports.
• Bloomberg covers a survey of 68 experts on China’s climate and energy policies, most of whom are based in China. Most experts surveyed believe that the country’s emissions will peak around 2028, according to Agence France-Presse.

Zohran Mamdani has won New York City’s mayoral election, representing a “structural shift” for “groups that have spent years fighting to link climate policy to New York’s housing and affordability crises”, Inside Climate News reports. The outlet says: “Under outgoing mayor Eric Adams, New York climate groups often found themselves fighting defensive battles: demanding enforcement of laws limiting emissions, highlighting the victims of flooding and extreme weather or fighting against new pipelines and gas power plants. Now, advocates say, they can finally imagine real collaboration.” Time magazine says climate change “was not often mentioned” during Mamdani’s campaign, adding that he argued that “affordability and climate action” can “go hand in hand”. Bloomberg says “the big wins by Democrats in Tuesday’s elections across the US turned into a rallying cry” in Rio de Janeiro at an environmental conference for major cities. Another Inside Climate News article says that Democratic victories “affirmed for climate action advocates that high energy costs are a huge vulnerability for president Donald Trump and his allies”.

MORE ON US

• The Press Association reports: “A federal court judge is allowing the Trump administration to reconsider a major federal permit that was granted to a Massachusetts offshore wind farm days before the president’s inauguration.”
• Danish renewables giant Orsted has reported a quarterly net loss, reports CNBC, as the “beleaguered company continues to battle US president Donald Trump’s anti-wind policies”.
• The Times looks at how Trump is “betting on fossil fuels while his superpower rival China is racing ahead on renewables”.
• Reuters reports that “oil and gas producers will need to step up drilling to sustain or increase output due to rapid declines in production from existing wells”, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
• “Donald Trump’s ambassador to the UK has said Britain risks losing its status as a leading global economy because of net-zero measures,” the Daily Telegraph reports.
• DeSmog reports that Bill Gates gave $3.5m to a thinktank run by “climate crisis denier Bjorn Lomborg”.

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, writes in the Guardian ahead of COP30. Lula says: “If we fail to move beyond speeches into real action, our societies will lose faith – not only in the COPs, but in multilateralism and international politics more broadly…To confront this crisis together, we need resources. And we must recognise that the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities remains the non-negotiable foundation of any climate pact. That is why the global south demands greater access to resources – not out of charity, but justice.” Lula continues: “We will launch in Belém a declaration on hunger, poverty and climate. Our commitment to fight global warming must be directly linked to the fight against hunger.” He concludes: “At every climate conference, we hear many promises but see too few real commitments. The era of declarations of good intentions has ended: the time for action plans has arrived. That is why today we begin the ‘COP of truth’.”

MORE CLIMATE COMMENT

• Angela Churie Kallhauge, the executive vice president for impact at the Environmental Defense Fund, writes in Climate Home News that “borrowing the clean energy industry’s playbook of incentives and market strategies can make resilience investable and scalable”. 
• The Financial Times has a “big read” under the headline: “Why Latin America can’t quit oil and gas”. 
• Suzanne Pelletier and Victor Gil, from Rainforest Foundation US, write in Mongabay that “climate finance must reach Indigenous communities at COP30 and beyond”.
• Opinion columnist George Will writes in the Washington Post that “Bill Gates’s climate rethinking is a gift to the world”. Carbon Brief climate science contributor Zeke Hausfather writes in his Climate Brink newsletter: “I feel that it needlessly sets up a conflict between laudable goals: we can both mitigate emissions and alleviate poverty, disease and hunger.”
• Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire writes: “Australia’s clean power push hits pivotal energy transition milestone.”

Ahead of COP30, UK energy secretary Ed Miliband writes in the Financial Times that “multilateral efforts to tackle climate change can still deliver for the UK and for the world”. Miliband argues that “for all its frustrations, the COP climate summit is one of the best examples of successful multilateralism the world has ever known”. He acknowledges that “the COP process is deeply messy and has many flaws”, but adds that “COP has acted as a global forcing mechanism”, saying it is “doubtful” that we would have “achieved such progress without this multilateral process”. He adds: “Today, some voices at home want to write off the cause of climate action and undermine global co-operation to tackle it. That would be deeply irresponsible.”

MORE UK COMMENT

• The Daily Express has an editorial on Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, saying he can “take pride in his efforts to ensure we pass on the planet to the next generation in the best possible state”. 
• An editorial in the climate-sceptic Daily Telegraph describes COP summits as the “world’s greatest junket” and criticises the UK government for “set[ting] its face against using the oil and gas under our own feet”.
• The Daily Telegraph also carries commentary attacking Miliband and COP30, while writing in support of Conservative leader Badenoch’s calls for new North Sea drilling.
• A Sun editorial attacks Ed Miliband again, claiming that “Britain’s energy policy is in the hands of a green zealot who is actually an economic vandal”.
• The Daily Mail’s Australia political editor Peter van Onselen describes net-zero as “total BS” and says “opposing it is like opposing world peace”.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Ayesha Tandon, with contributions from Henry Zhang and Wanyuan Song. It was edited by Robert McSweeney.

Subscribe for free.