17 November 2025

While Climate Action Network appreciates the Presidency’s effort to gather the wide range of Party inputs into one document, the Summary Note offers us a broad shopping list rather than a clear path forward – and it does not yet reflect the political reality inside the negotiation rooms.

The Note provides a good starting point with its spirit of multilateralism and the urgency of implementation, but it still lacks clear direction in the way it bundles issues together, misses crucial qualifiers, and leans too heavily on “investment signals” and “enabling environments.” The result is an outline that risks shifting responsibility onto developing countries while underplaying equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) – the foundation of trust under the #UNFCCC.

It also omits major outcomes already adopted at #COP30, especially on Just Transition, which must be integrated if the final decision is to be credible.

Just Transition

The summary must include a placeholder for the outcomes of the #JustTransition Work Programme – including the new Just Transition Mechanism (BAM). This is a central pillar for delivering the #ParisAgreement and GST outcomes, and cannot sit outside the final package.

Adaptation

We welcome the clear recognition that #Adaptation demands public, grant-based finance – and the commitment to triple the Glasgow goal for 2026–2029 is a step in the right direction. But the scale of climate impacts requires more than incremental increases. COP30 must set a pathway to reach at least USD $120 billion a year in adaptation finance by 2030.

The Note’s references to Article 9.1, improved access, reduced cost of capital, expanded fiscal space and non-debt instruments are essential, ensuring adaptation support reaches the countries that need it most.

NDCs and Ambition

The Note encourages updated NDCs and support for conditional NDCs, but it misses the central point: ambition cannot rise without the finance to deliver it. By leaning on “enabling environments,” it risks shifting responsibility onto developing countries instead of focusing on the obligations of developed countries to provide the means of implementation.

A credible response to the NDC Synthesis Report must be grounded in equity and support: identifying the finance gap, outlining how it will be filled, and ensuring countries are not asked to update their NDCs without the resources to implement them.

Parties must be called upon to revise and strengthen their NDCs in line with GST guidance and national implementation frameworks – backed by predictable finance, technology and capacity-building. Without this, the 1.5°C limit simply cannot be kept within reach.

Finance

The only credible path forward is to retain Option 1, which would establish a 9.1 work programme and finally create a structured way to strengthen institutions, expand access, lower the cost of capital, increase fiscal space and scale up non-debt instruments. The other options do not move us closer to delivery: Option 2 is wholly unacceptable, and Option 3 simply repeats the NCQG process without offering new direction. To turn commitments into action, the decision must also include a clear call for developed countries to put forward an NCQG delivery plan no later than 2026.

Trade and Unilateral Measures

Any COP30 outcome must advance climate–trade discussions in a way that upholds UNFCCC principles – especially equity, CBDR-RC, and support for developing countries’ low-carbon development. We welcome the proposal to operationalise Article 3.5 through an annual dialogue, but it must include explicit references to equity and means of implementation, and be linked to the Just Transition Work Programme and climate finance processes (Articles 9.1 and 2.1c). Proposals that sideline these discussions into response measures alone should be removed. Platforms on standards or trade measures must be tied to operationalising Article 3.5, not stand alone.

Loss and Damage

The Note must recognise the urgent need for new, additional, predictable and adequate finance to support vulnerable developing countries facing both economic and non-economic #LossAndDamage.

Conclusion

The Presidency has offered a broad canvas. What is needed now is focus: clarity on finance, integration of Just Transition outcomes, equity at the centre, and clear roadmaps for ambition. Without these elements, the final decision risks being a list of aspirations rather than a package capable of delivering the COP of Truth.

Contact: Attila Kulcsar, CAN International, akulcsar@climatenetwork.org, +44 7472 124872 (WhatsApp)