We had seven delegates at the recent 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Belém, Brazil.
These were: Professors Petra Minnerop and Elisa Morgera, Dr Owen Boyle, and PhD student Ghulam Mustafa Kamran, all from our Law School; Professor Chris Stokes, from our Department of Geography; and Professor Laura Marsiliani, from our Department of Economics/Business School; and undergraduate student Zonash Aasim, Business and Management, also from our Business School.
In addition, 11 colleagues participated remotely as ‘virtual delegates’.
Professor Minnerop hosted an official UNFCCC side event, on implementing evidence-based, nationally-determined contributions to reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) through integrated, gender-responsive Just Transitions.
We also hosted an event at COP30’s Ocean Pavilion: “New Research Frontiers in Law and Science: from the deep Sea to rising Sea levels”. Delegates debated how stringent due diligence standards for states’ international obligations to reduce their GHG emissions and to regulate the emissions of corporations can be determined and implemented.
Professor Morgera, the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights, shared her insights with BBC News on how multilateralism is crucial in addressing the climate change crisis; and also advised governments, civil society, children and international organisations on how human rights could be included in negotiations at COP30 and in climate action at national and regional levels.
We also organised an online seminar live from COP30 so our students could hear about negotiations live from delegates in Brazil.
Professor Marsiliani participated in an International Chamber of Commerce event on ‘Bridging the Finance Divide: investing where markets don’t reach’. This highlighted the need of data on returns to investment and their social benefits to mobilise investments into vulnerable areas and communities. Read Professor Marsiliani's COP30 blog.
Professor Stokes spoke at an official UNFCCC side event on the perils of ignoring the science on tipping points in the cryosphere. This was reported in Earth Negotiations Bulletin. He also spoke at the Launch of the State of the Cryosphere Report 2025, and presented the results of a paper from earlier this year, which found that efforts to limit the global temperature increase may not go far enough to save the world’s ice sheets.
Professor Minnerop said the adoption of a new Just Transition Mechanism, the conformation of the new consensus target of 1.5 Degree Celsius as the long-term temperature goal, and the renewed emphasis on multilateralism were positive outcomes of COP30.
Professor Stokes said COPs receive a lot of criticism, some of which might be deserved, but the world would be in a much worse place if they were not taking place. He added: “At one point, it was plausible that we might have seen warming approach 4°C by the end of century but current policies and action are likely to bring that to below 3°C and possibly as low as 2.5°C. This is still far too high, of course, but with the highest possible ambition, it is possible to reduce warming to below 2°C and then come back down to safer levels.”
Professor Morgera said it was a significant disappointment that COP30 could not reach consensus on the need to develop a roadmap for the equitable phase-out of fossil fuels, but welcomed the launch of an alternative multilateral process on this.
Image from left to right: The Durham University COP30 delegation Professor Petra Minnerop, Professor Chris Stokes, Professor Laura Marsiliani, Professor Elisa Morgera, Dr Owen Boyle, Ghulam Mustafa Kamran, Zonash Aasim.
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