An attempted COP30 summit invasion by indigenous protesters wasn't the only effort to move the dial toward the Global South in Belém this week. The G77 countries and China finally signalled their support for a proposed Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) to platform the planning, funding, and monitoring of just transitions.
The world stands at the threshold of a bright green future at the UN climate summit in Belem, but it will never get there while the mineral-rich developing countries that fuel it remain in poverty and darkness.
Outdated multilateral rules on trade, technology, and finance continue to constrain the Global South economies that supply the cobalt, lithium, nickel, and rare earths powering electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines today.
The result is a system that disproportionately rewards investors in wealthy countries while slowing the clean energy transition for everyone.
The race to secure critical minerals now mirrors the old scramble for fossil fuels, with most developing countries seeing few material benefits or economic development from the extraction of their mineral wealth.
For instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo produces around three-quarters of the world’s cobalt powering digital devices, while 80 percent of its people still lack electricity. When India introduced domestic content rules for solar panels, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) struck them down.
The WTO also upheld an EU case against Indonesia for using domestic processing rules to enhance the economic value it can derive from the use of its nickel resources, which is a key element for batteries needed to transition away from fossil fuel dependence.
These examples show how global rules have obstructed the green industrial strategies needed for the energy transition and meeting climate goals.
The COP30 in Belem is an opportunity for collective action to bridge the ambition gap. Here are four actions that governments at the meeting could support for multilateral action to accelerate the shift to a cleaner, greener future.
Breaking the green finance dam will unlock the potential of developing countries to lead in renewable energy and sustainable industry
Current trade frameworks push developing countries to export raw minerals while discouraging beneficiation at or close to source, or using procurement policies to move up supply chains. This limits public policy choices available to resource-rich nations for green industrialisation, job creation and stronger environmental safeguards.
Leaders in Belém should instruct trade ministers to negotiate a time-bound “climate-industrial peace clause” at the WTO - protecting local value-addition, green procurement and processing requirements for critical minerals until 2035.
Governments should commit to revising trade and investment rules to allow local value-addition, sustainable procurement and updated frameworks to regulate the export and use of critical minerals. Investor–state dispute settlement mechanisms that can be used by foreign investors to restrict countries’ sovereign rights and used to block measures for local mineral beneficiation, environmental protection or even climate action should be reformed or removed.
Rules written for a pre-climate-crisis world must be updated to support poorer countries to build industrial bases for renewable energy and emerging technologies at home instead of being restricted to the export of raw minerals and import of finished products. In short, they need policy space to industrialise sustainably.
Technology should be the great equaliser of this green era, yet many developing countries are priced out of accessing green technologies because of restrictive patents and expensive licenses.
The current global intellectual property (IP) regime contributes to concentrated production in a few countries, delaying global progress in the deployment of green and climate-friendly technologies.
COP30 should launch a formal UNFCCC request to the WTO TRIPS Council for a climate-tech waiver covering priority technologies (batteries, grid software, electrolysers, and key components) with a fast-track patent pool and open licensing.
Standard-setting bodies should be tasked to deliver interoperable, open standards within 12 months.
Patent pools, open licensing and shared technical standards can accelerate innovation while maintaining fair incentives for inventors.
Open-source designs for batteries and electric grid software should spur increased production of renewable technologies in Southern countries, which together hold 70 percent of the global potential for wind and solar energy.
Despite repeated pledges, climate finance from wealthy countries remains wholly inadequate and slow. The goal of developed countries providing developing countries with $300bn [€258bn] annually in climate finance remains far from the actual needs, and much of what is delivered comes as loans rather than grants. These loans further contribute to countries’ sovereign debt and expose borrowers to exchange-rate risks.
Developing countries need long-term, affordable finance in local currencies to implement mitigation and adaptation measures, build clean industries and foster resilience against climate shocks.
Building on the COP29, COP30 should mandate multilateral development banks to offer local-currency loans at near-zero real rates for just-transition projects and to use guarantee windows to absorb currency risk.
Debt relief efforts should seek to support climate action, prioritise local job creation and just-transition outcomes.
Aligning finance with equity can accelerate access to energy, reskilling, and community-led renewable projects, allowing those who contributed least to climate change to build resilient low-carbon futures.
COP30 can also help design a fairer system for coordinating climate action. The proposed Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) would provide a platform to plan, fund, and monitor just transitions. It could fill critical gaps for states, communities and industries by connecting finance, technology, and capacity-building initiatives.
Given yesterday’s G77+China signal, Parties should agree text to establish BAM at COP30 with three near-term tasks: (1) identify non-debt finance sources; (2) broker climate-tech access (including a TRIPS waiver pathway and patent pools); and (3) embed participation for workers, Indigenous Peoples and local communities in national transition compacts.
For Brazil, establishing this mechanism would mark COP30 as a legacy of implementation rather than another conference of promises.
The climate crisis demands structural change, not incremental reform. Breaking the green finance dam will unlock the potential of developing countries to lead in renewable energy and sustainable industry.
Belém can be remembered for more than just promises. If Belém delivers on fairness and equity, it can be remembered as the turning point where climate justice and global prosperity finally aligned.
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Ketakandriana Rafitoson, executive director of resource justice network, and Carlos María Correa, executive director of the south centre
Ketakandriana Rafitoson, executive director of resource justice network, and Carlos María Correa, executive director of the south centre