COP 30: Brazil Steps Onto the World Stage Ready to Turn Climate Promises Into Action

Interview with Luis Fernando Guedes Pinto, Executive Director of SOS MATA ATLÂNTICA, a leading environmental organization in Brazil

By Karine Pleszezak | October 2025

As the world prepares for COP30, the first global climate conference to be held in the Amazon, Brazil stands at the center of discussions on biodiversity, climate, and sustainable finance. Few organizations know this landscape as well as the SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation, which for nearly four decades has worked to protect and restore one of the planet’s most threatened biomes, home to 70% of Brazil’s population.

We spoke with Luis Fernando Guedes Pinto, the Foundation’s Executive Director, about what’s at stake at COP30, what the world needs to understand about Brazil’s role, and how international philanthropy can help turn promises into concrete results. Luis Fernando is a leading environmentalist with over two decades of experience driving sustainable agriculture, forest conservation, and climate action in Brazil and globally. He has published in Science and Nature and been recognized by Ashoka, UBS Visionaris, and the Rockefeller Foundation for his leadership in advancing sustainability and equity.

Brazil at the Center of the Global Climate Stage

COP30 in Belém places Brazil in a leading role on the global climate agenda. What should the world, and especially international donors, understand about the country’s role at this moment?

First, Brazil holds a formal and symbolic double role, as both the presidency and host of COP30. As president, Brazil will lead the negotiations under the UN Climate Convention and the Paris Agreement. That means guiding countries toward greater ambition, ensuring their participation in Belém, and building trust in multilateral cooperation.

This COP will be about implementation, turning commitments into action. Brazil has the task of leading by example, helping nations move forward on what’s needed to meet the Paris goals and avoid surpassing the 1.5°C and 2°C thresholds.

As the host country, Brazil also plays a cultural and diplomatic role, welcoming the world to the Amazon and showcasing its leadership not just in negotiations, but in tangible progress. The country has already made real advances in reducing deforestation and developing pathways for an energy transition.

In short, Brazil steps onto the COP30 stage as both a leader and a bridge-builder, working to align countries around collective action.

Financing: From Promises to Impact

You recently warned that “without financing, climate agreements will remain only promises.” How do we move from international promises to real progress on climate mitigation and adaptation?

To move from rhetoric to action, we need to create innovative financing mechanisms for both the energy transition and the end of deforestation. A concrete example is Brazil’s proposal for the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), which includes the Tropical Forest Forever Fund, a financing mechanism designed specifically to end deforestation and promote forest restoration. It combines donations with financial returns for countries and investors, making it a viable and sustainable model.

Beyond innovation, countries must also take responsibility. Wealthy nations, the ones that have historically emitted the most, need to transfer resources to developing and more vulnerable countries. That’s one of the biggest global challenges today, ensuring that those who caused the damage help repair it.

At the same time, we need to bring in the private sector. The Brazilian government has been promoting a kind of collective effort, a mutirão, where everyone plays a part: governments, companies, and civil society. It’s about moving from talk to shared action and investment.

Biodiversity as a Climate Strategy

Much of the global climate conversation still revolves around carbon. But SOS Mata Atlântica has long argued that there is no effective climate action without biodiversity. How can this perspective inspire international donors to look beyond carbon offsetting?

Although COP30 focuses on the Climate Convention, there’s a great opportunity, especially for donors, to understand that investments in the climate agenda also support the biodiversity agenda, and vice versa.

These are two separate UN conventions, the Climate Convention and the Biodiversity Convention, each with its own goals and commitments: the Paris Agreement on one side, and the new Global Biodiversity Framework on the other. But it’s possible to direct resources that fulfill both objectives at the same time. We can build bridges between the two conventions, between the climate COP and the biodiversity COP, so that countries and investors can contribute to both crises simultaneously.

These crises are deeply interconnected. Climate change harms biodiversity, and biodiversity loss worsens the climate crisis. By taking an integrated approach, we create a win-win situation, optimizing resources and maximizing impact.

This is also a social opportunity. In the Atlantic Forest, for example, SOS Mata Atlântica contributes to reaching zero deforestation and advancing large-scale restoration, which supports not only climate and biodiversity goals, but also water conservation, job creation, and the reduction of inequalities.

Forest restoration and halting deforestation advance multiple global goals, including many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and show how closely these agendas must work together.

COP30 as a Milestone of the Decade

What do you expect COP30 to deliver in concrete terms, and what would failure in Belém mean for the planet?

In practical terms, COP30 must deliver on four fronts. First, countries need to present credible NDCs, national commitments that, together, put us on track to meet the Paris Agreement targets. Second, there must be a breakthrough on climate finance: a clear plan for how billions, even trillions, of dollars will flow to support mitigation and adaptation efforts, especially in developing nations. Third, the focus should shift from negotiation to implementation, turning existing commitments into real action. And fourth, the conference must set concrete steps toward phasing out fossil fuels.

Above all, climate justice should frame the agenda, ensuring Indigenous and traditional peoples are recognized for their essential role in protecting ecosystems and that funding reaches the most vulnerable. A failure in Belém would not just be a diplomatic setback, it would erode trust in multilateralism and the UN process itself, signaling that the world’s cooperative system is failing to deliver. The cost would be felt in escalating climate impacts: more extreme weather, deeper inequality, and a dangerously uncertain future.

The Role of International Philanthropy

How can U.S. donors and corporations move beyond writing checks to use their influence, technology, and networks to drive real results?

When it comes to global philanthropy, influence may matter more than money. Major U.S. donors have the power to shape a national and international agenda that places the United States at the forefront of climate leadership, advancing the energy transition, phasing out fossil fuels, and reaffirming that climate action is both urgent and achievable.This is crucial today, especially to counter the discourse of the current administration, which has had a deeply negative impact both in the U.S. and globally. We need strong voices standing up to that, saying clearly that climate change is real, that it matters, and that the U.S. has a central role to play as one of the world’s largest current and historical emitters of greenhouse gases.

Beyond that, U.S. philanthropists can support other voices, both within the country and internationally. Of course, technology and networks are essential, but being vocal, supporting those who speak out, and showcasing solutions may be even more powerful.

They can amplify credible voices, showcase real solutions, and help proven initiatives scale. The tools to tackle climate change already exist; what’s needed now is the courage -and the influence- to put them to work.

Building a Collective Corporate Movement

SOS Mata Atlântica is developing a new alliance to mobilize companies around large-scale forest and water restoration in southeastern Brazil. How can initiatives like this redefine the role of the private sector in climate action, especially at a time when the world expects COP30 to deliver bold, finance-based solutions?

On November 5, just before COP30, we will launch in São Paulo our territorial strategy and Corporate Alliance, an ambitious initiative that reflects the current reality of the Atlantic Forest, a biome with global relevance.

Our goal is to reverse the trajectory of forest destruction in a highly populated and economically vital region of Brazil that risks collapse due to the loss of ecosystem services, the loss of nature itself. This initiative seeks to restore the balance in a critical area where restoration is essential for the economy to function, for cities to operate, and for us to secure food, energy, and especially water.

In this effort, we see companies as our key allies. While public policies are fundamental for long-term transformation, the private sector can mobilize investment quickly and at scale, accelerating change in coordination with these policies.

And, as I mentioned before, the positioning of these companies, not only their investments, is extremely important in driving this collective transformation.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.