Canadian climate negotiators will travel to Brazil for the next two weeks, where leaders will gather for the annual UN climate talks.
The talks come as Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose credentials as an international climate advocate helped him win support in this year's election, has come under increasing scrutiny over his reversal of some key Trudeau-era climate policies as well as his government's perceived easing on the oil and gas sector, Canada's biggest emitter.
The focus is expected to be on how the world adapts to the risks of climate change and how countries will pay for these climate change mitigation efforts.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreement, and leaders will face questions about whether the agreement is working and whether countries are abandoning their climate commitments, says Catherine Abreu, Canada's leading expert on climate policy.
But she is optimistic: “I think we'll see strong political signals coming out of (the conference) that the vast majority of the world is definitely still committed to this process,” Abreu, a member of the independent panel of federal climate advisers, said ahead of the meetings.
Here's what else you need to know.
What is COP30?
The name of the summit refers to the 30th Conference of the Signatories of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
This year's summit will take place in Brazil in Belem, a city known as the gateway to the Amazon River.
The site is a stark reminder of what's at stake if emissions aren't brought under control as climate change and deforestation help transform tropical forests into drier, fire-prone savannah.
Unlike the summit held 10 years ago in Paris, Brazil, which hosted the summit, made it clear that this COP is focused on implementing existing agreements rather than promoting new rules.
What will be discussed?
A key focus will be on adaptation – how to make countries more resilient to increased climate risks, from rising sea levels to extreme heat. Negotiators are set to finalize a list of about 100 indicators used to track global progress, such as how many people have access to reliable drinking water to withstand climate-induced drought.
There is still debate over how to track the money that developing countries say they need to make adaptation goals a reality. Parties are considering indicators that could include measuring how much of all adaptation funding goes to local governments, small island states or indigenous peoples, reflecting a broader goal of ensuring equity and fairness in the distribution of climate change money.
The talks will aim to achieve the key outcome of last year's negotiations: a pledge to mobilize at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for climate finance. Two-year-old agreements to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 and transition away from fossil fuels, a major driver of man-made climate change, will also be discussed.
More than half of the countries participating in the negotiations have yet to submit updated national climate plans, called “nationally determined contributions.” The plans, due to be unveiled earlier this year, reflect each country's contribution to tackling climate change and are intended to be strengthened every five years as part of an escalating cycle of ambition.
Abreu said she expects to see a push at the talks for leaders to explain how “countries will fill this gap.”
What is Canada's role?
Federal officials say Canada will continue to play a bridge-builder role, helping countries reach consensus on some of the summit's key issues. Officials briefing reporters ahead of the talks said Canada would support calls for more climate finance and keeping global warming targets within reach.
But climate observers say Canada's support for expanding oil and gas production, as well as its silence on whether it will meet its 2030 and 2035 emissions targets, could be among the problems undermining its position.
Supporters pointed to the latest federal budget, which contained no details on how the price on industrial carbon would be raised, talked about a potential rollback of oil and gas emissions caps, and opened the door to the Canada Infrastructure Bank backing projects in the sector rather than limiting its work to sustainability-related projects.
“We simply cannot make these commitments given the current way in which the government is promoting the oil and gas industry in Canada,” said Eriel Chekwi Deranger, president of the nonprofit Indigenous Climate Action and a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.
Deranger said Canada has been receptive to Indigenous proposals at the U.N. climate summit over the past decade, particularly regarding increased adaptation funding and climate finance.
However, “when it comes to domestic implementation, it falls short,” she said.
Who will be there?
Environment Minister Julie Dobrusen will lead the Canadian delegation during the first week of the conference. Prime Minister Mark Carney, a former UN special envoy for climate finance and a summit veteran, is not expected to attend the summit as his government faces a vote of confidence over the budget.
Participation in events leading up to the summit fell, which some saw as a sign of waning global attention to climate change. The meeting of heads of state earlier this week was attended by about half as many people as last year's summit, with notable absences from the leaders of the planet's three biggest polluters: China, the United States and India.
The summit will also come as the US withdraws from the Paris Agreement for the second time under President Donald Trump.
Abreu said that might be for the best.
“I think this could lead to the rest of the world being able to come together to find some solutions without the presence of obstructionists,” she said.
Does the Paris Agreement still matter?
Ten years ago, world leaders agreed in Paris to limit global warming to two degrees and aim for a temperature rise of 1.5C above pre-industrial times, while charting a course for the future of climate diplomacy.
Catherine McKenna, who helped negotiate the deal as Canada's then-environment minister, said the deal was “fundamental.” Before Paris, there was no clear global temperature target and no framework for how each country could contribute.
According to the UN in 2015, the planet could warm by about 3.5°C by the end of the century. Now, if countries stick to their climate plans, it could be closer to 2.5 C.
While this is an improvement, experts say the level of warming will still make heat waves unbearable in some areas, threaten coastal countries with rising sea levels and lead to severe losses in biodiversity, among a range of other problems.
“This is not where we need to be,” McKenna said. “But (the Paris Agreement) was critical. Without it, we wouldn't have this structure, we wouldn't have ways to assess good faith, we wouldn't have goals.”
The legacy of the agreement is also evident in the development of renewable energy, Abreu said.
Investment in clean energy is expected to double the amount invested in fossil fuels this year. Fossil fuels continue to dominate the global energy mix, accounting for about 60 percent, but for the first time in 2024, renewables and nuclear energy sources accounted for two-fifths of total annual electricity production, the International Energy Agency said.
What's important now, she said, is to see renewables expand even faster to displace fossil fuels.
“We really need to reach a turning point on this issue.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2025.
— With files from The Associated Press.
