ORRAA at COP30  

Brazil’s key focus for COP30 is on implementation, including of the Paris Agreement and submissions of new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by countries, as a pathway to strengthen multilateralism around climate. Key topics include:

Climate Finance Mobilisation
A central priority is the implementation of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), agreed at COP29 in Baku. The NCQG mandates mobilising at least USD$300 billion annually by 2035 for developing countries for climate mitigation and adaption, which is set within a broader objective of scaling climate finance to USD$1.3 trillion per year by 2030. The Baku to Belém Roadmap, co-led by the COP29 and COP30 Presidencies, will define pathways to achieve this target and provide a platform to elevate ambition for ocean and coastal resilience.

Investable Nationally Determined Contributions
A key focus in the run up to and at COP30 has been the commitment of countries to new NDCs that accelerate climate action to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. At the UN General Assembly in New York in September, almost 100 countries announced new NDCs to drive ambition towards Belem. To unlock private sector finance, countries are expected to include in these updated NDC (“NDC 3.0s”) pathways that clearly translate national climate goals into stable, bankable policies and commercial opportunities. These ‘investable NDCs’ are intended to accelerate capital flows towards climate solutions, including ocean-based mitigation and adaptation measures.

Loss and Damage Fund Operationalisation
The Standing Committee on Finance released draft guidance for the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), marking the first phase of its operationalisation. Coastal and marine considerations must be embedded into this framework to ensure effective support for vulnerable communities, with implementation targeted for the second half of 2025.

Market Mechanisms and Just Transition
COP30 will advance technical negotiations on Article 6.4 of the UNFCCC including defining rules for additionality in the global carbon market. A decision is also expected on the proposed “Belém Action Mechanism for Just Transition”, aimed at ensuring that the shift to low-carbon pathways is socially equitable and inclusive.

In the lead-up to COP30, the ocean community has been mobilising around the following initiatives:

The Blue NDC Challenge
Launched at the UN Ocean Conference by Brazil and France, the “Blue NDC Challenge” calls on countries to incorporate ocean-based mitigation strategies and adaptation measures in their updating NDCs for climate action. The Blue NDC Challenge is supported by ORRAA member Ocean Conservancy alongside Ocean & Climate Platform and the World Resources Institute. The Challenge aims to call attention to the essential role the ocean plays in managing and mitigating climate change. Current countries that support the Blue NDC Challenge include ORRAA members: France, Australia, Fiji, andPalau. In parallel, countries have also been called upon to have National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), policies, and planning processes in place by the end of 2025. These plans should explicitly strengthen coastal and ocean resilience.

Global Goal for Adaptation (GGA)
A critical decision point at COP30 will be the final adoption of indicators for the Global Goal for Adaptation (GGA). Ocean considerations must be fully integrated into these indicators, currently being developed through the UAE–Belém Work Programme, ensuring that adaptation metrics reflect the role of marine and coastal systems in building climate resilience. A potential list of indicators was released in September 2025.

Ocean Breakthroughs and the “Blue Package”
In the run up to COP30, the Ocean Breakthroughs convened key stakeholders across this community to collaborate on the COP30 Action Agenda Activation Group #7 on “Efforts to preserve and restore oceans and coastal ecosystems”. This collaboration has developed the “Blue Package” for the Ocean Breakthroughs to highlight key actions that need to be taken between 2025 and the next Global Stocktake in 2028 to accelerate solutions for the Ocean. The Blue Package will be launched in Belem with the COP30 Presidency and High-Level Climate Champions.

In line with the focus on implementation at COP30, the High-Level Climate Champions have developed a Granary of Solutions to highlight key solution implementors. In this Platform, ORRAA highlighted how our members and projects are taking action on the ground to tackle ocean conservation, climate impacts, and social and economic resilience. These include: AFO’s establishment of a voluntary blue carbon market in Tanzania, Blue Alliance’s blended finance facility for marine protected areas, the Mesoamerican Reef Fund’s solution to scale coral reef insurance in the Caribbean, and Rare’s work to strengthen financial resilience of small-scale fishers.

Standing Committee on Finance
The UNFCCC’s Standing Committee on Finance is preparing to hold its 2026 Forum on “Financing Climate Action in Water Systems and Ocean” to facilitate exchange and promote linkages and coherence among bodies and entities dealing with climate change finance. This Forum will be a unique opportunity to mainstream ocean-finance for climate action.

Ocean Negotiations and Finance
The transition to a regenerative and sustainable blue economy is an imperative for a prosperous future. Mobilising finance for this transition is critical, underscored by a new wave of international negotiations and agreements that are poised to reshape ocean governance. These agreements -in differing stages of design and implementation- have diverse financial mechanisms. ORRAA’s policy background brief “Financing Waves: Mobilising Finance in the Current Multilateral Ocean Policy Context”summarises the financing components of the Paris Agreement, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the High Seas Treaty, the Global Plastics Treaty, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Net-Zero Framework, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.