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Taking stock of the action: What COP30 Meant for Farmers

04 December 2025

At the opening of COP30, we called on negotiators to prioritize partnering with small-scale farmers to transform agrifood systems and deliver on ambitions laid out in the Global Stocktake. Now with COP30 in the rearview mirror, we look at how far the outcomes respond to the urgent need for action. 

The scale and diversity of participation at this year’s COP was its most remarkable feature. Civil society organizations, traditional communities, social movements and Indigenous peoples brought Belém to life, and many of the most important conversations and alliance building happened outside of  the negotiation rooms. 

Overall, COP30 sent important signals on finance, adaptation and social justice, but fell short on food systems, fossil fuels and deforestation. For small-farming communities and rural workers in the Global South, the job is far from done.  

In October, Brazilian President Luiz Inácia Lula da Silva set an ambition for COP20 that is directly in line with the urgent need for inclusive climate action:

“Food security must be at the heart of climate action. Nationally Determined Contributions must include social protection, smallholder resilience and solutions that generate income and preserve biodiversity. Only a new model of fair and sustainable development can ensure a future for the next generations.”

In our position paper, we laid out farmer-centered priorities across the six axes of the COP30 Action Agenda. To advocate for this agenda, a diverse Solidaridad team from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe participated in over 20 panels and events sharing the lessons gleaned from our farmer-centered solutions in practice.

TRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SYSTEMS

What we called for: Placing the transformation of agriculture and food systems at the heart of climate action, with more and better finance for small-scale farmers, integration of food systems in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) implementation, and meaningful participation of farmers, women, youth and Indigenous communities.

What COP30 delivered: Agriculture and food systems appeared prominently in a draft Sharm el-Sheikh Joint Work (SJWA) text, new initiatives, side events and political messages, but COP30 ultimately adopted only procedural conclusions that roll work forward to 2026 , with no substantive decision on food systems finance or implementation. 

Our assessment: Partially delivered. Food systems remain a critical missing link between climate ambition and concrete support for small-scale farmers.

TRANSITIONING ENERGY, INDUSTRY AND TRANSPORT

What we called for: Advance a just transition in which rural communities and agricultural workers are included, with investment in decentralized renewable energy for farms and processing, and supply chain decarbonisation that benefits producers.

What COP30 delivered: A new Just Transition Mechanism – a “just transition” aims to make climate action fair for workers and communities who risk losing jobs or income – was agreed with strong language on rights and inclusion, but no clear roadmap to phase out fossil fuels and no specific commitments on rural energy access or farm-level renewables.

Our assessment: Partially delivered. The just transition architecture is promising, but without a real roadmap to phase out fossil fuels and specific measures for rural areas, concrete benefits for farmers remain out of reach.

STEWARDING FORESTS, OCEANS AND BIODIVERSITY

What we called for: Align climate and biodiversity finance, scale nature-based solutions such as agroforestry and regenerative agriculture, support deforestation-free commodities with real transition finance, and reward small-scale farmer stewardship.

What COP30 delivered: Forests and deforestation were politically prominent and new finance initiatives were launched (most notably 6.7 billion USD for tropical forest protection), yet a shared deforestation roadmap and robust mechanisms to channel resources directly to local communities and farmers were left to processes outside the core COP decisions.

Our assessment: Partially delivered. It is a good start on deforestation and forest finance, but a clear roadmap and farmer-centered incentive mechanisms are still missing, which raises doubts about whether it will bring real incentives for small-scale farmers. 

BUILDING RESILIENCE FOR CITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE AND WATER

What we called for: Invest in rural–urban resilience by protecting watersheds and soils, scaling nature-based solutions, and ensuring finance reaches local actors who safeguard food and water security for cities.

What COP30 delivered: Adaptation finance (funding to help communities adapt to climate change) and a global set of adaptation indicators were agreed in principle (COP30 secured a new target to triple finance for climate adaptation), but timelines were weakened, indicators were diluted and rural–urban linkages and food systems were not clearly reflected.

Our assessment: Partially delivered. Adaptation remains a priority on paper, but many are concerned that the current framework will not yet drive strong, locally grounded resilience for farmers and cities.

FOSTERING HUMAN AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

What we called for:  Make social justice central to climate action by strengthening the Gender Action Plan, integrating equity and gender in NDCs and finance, and guaranteeing underrepresented leadership.

What COP30 delivered: Parties agreed a new Gender Action Plan and a Just Transition Mechanism that both highlight rights, equity and inclusion, creating clearer political backing for gender-responsive and socially just climate action.

Our assessment: Largely delivered on frameworks. The real test will be implementation and resourcing, especially in rural and agrifood contexts.

UNLEASHING ENABLERS AND ACCELERATORS

What we called for: Shape a farmer-centered New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance, reform delivery so resources reach local actors in accessible ways, invest in technology transfer and capacity, and align all financial flows with resilient, low-emission food systems.

What COP30 delivered: A new work programme was launched to follow up on the Baku to Belém finance roadmap and high-level targets (1.3 trillion USD a year for developing countries by 2035), with political recognition of the need to increase climate finance, but without concrete changes yet to access rules, delivery channels or support for farmer-oriented technologies.

Our assessment: Partially delivered. Overall climate finance signals improved, yet the architecture still does not work for small-scale farmers and local organisations in the way we called for.

Encouraging outcomes, opportunity for improvement

The outcomes from Belém gave encouraging signals:

  • Climate finance moved in the right direction with the aim of tripling adaptation finance, and an increase in the number of commitments, but the allotted resources remain far below what farmers and rural communities actually need. 
  • New initiatives and pledges on deforestation marked an important step forward, but the lack of a clear, shared roadmap to 2030 increased risk of delay and fragmentation. 

Even for the positive steps, the adoption of adaptation indicators was overshadowed by a difficult non-participatory process and widespread concern among many observers and vulnerable countries about whether the weakened indicators and final package will really support effective, locally grounded adaptation.

Although the lack of binding agreements left many feeling defeated, the energy  across pavilions, side events and coalitions outside of the closed areas showed a growing recognition that food systems, forests and social justice are central to climate action. The most important things happened outside the negotiation rooms.

The city was buzzing; besides the blue zone and green zone, there was the agrizone, the People’s Summit, the COP Village, and more than 65 themed houses scattered throughout the city..  The unprecedented mobilization in Belém showed that social pressure is essential to increase climate ambition, especially given the limits of multilateral negotiations. Upcoming milestones, such as the First International Conference on the Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels in April 2026 in Colombia will be important opportunities to keep that pressure up. The question now is whether the formal outcomes can catch up with this momentum.

Regional Contacts for Climate Action at Solidaridad

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